Burn Bright
by cym70
Summary: After their impromptu escape from Homeworld, Blue Pearl and Yellow Pearl make their way to Earth to find the Crystal Gems. (Part 5 of Finding Stars in Desolate Skies) **canon divergent after Log Date 7 15 2**
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! This is the current installment of my series Finding Stars in Desolate Skies, and I'll be posting updates here and on AO3 simultaneously from now on-expect them about once a week or so. Also, please feel free to come say hello and follow me on Tumblr (you can find me under the same username)!**

* * *

Yellow was loath to admit it, but their descent to Earth was more of a controlled crash than a proper landing. They had put the escape pod through a lot more than it was meant for, and she was mostly just glad they _got_ to Earth.

She pinpointed the location where the renegade Pearl had been according to the file and, once they were close enough, aimed them in that general direction, hoping they wouldn't have too much searching to do. She only had minimal knowledge about the inhabitants of the planet, and it was probably best to avoid them if possible.

Regardless, their landing wasn't terribly jarring, and she and Blue were strapped in well enough to avoid getting flung around too much. They were on land, thankfully, atop some kind of small hill, though they could see ocean on the horizon.

"Okay?" Blue asked immediately after they'd skidded to a complete halt.

"Yeah, you?" Yellow unbuckled and tried to run a diagnostic on the escape pod. It failed to even start, so she figured it was a safe bet that it wouldn't be usable anymore.

"I'm fine." She got up and stretched a little. "Where do we go now? Are the maps still working?"

Yellow flicked her fingers over a different screen, and a projection of the Earth flared up on it, a small yellow dot indicating their location. "Seems like it." She frowned, then projected the image of the file from her gem, comparing the two. "We're in the correct region, if nothing else."

"I hope this is actually where their base is," Blue said worriedly. "Otherwise I don't know how we would track them down."

"We should get out and take a look." Yellow opened up the door and for a moment they were both taken by how _green_ the planet was.

Blue led the way outside and spun in a slow circle, taking in every inch of the Earth she could see. "It's so beautiful."

She murmured agreement, eyes trying to catalogue everything in front of her. It was overwhelming. She almost missed Homeworld's sparse practicality.

She turned back to look at their battered little ship, taking in the damage that seemed much more substantial now that she was seeing it from the outside. She said a silent thank you to the machinery that had held up long enough to get them here safely and then glanced at Blue.

"Let's…scout the area," Yellow suggested uncertainly. "The ship can act as our base until we make contact with the Crystal Gems."

Blue nodded in agreement, kneeling to touch the green plants and small colorful petals on the ground. She liked the way the light fell on them, and she looked up, immediately captivated by the planet's sun and blue, blue sky. Everything seemed so much more organic and alive here, even the colors she was accustomed to. "Which way?"

Yellow shrugged. "There?" she suggested, pointing away from the human-built structures since that would undoubtedly lead to interactions they had no way of predicting.

"Sounds good." There was no question as to whether they should stay together or not; they both knew it would be foolish to separate. Blue rose to her feet once more and started towards the trees, one hand clasped in front of her gem and the other clutching her wrist. "Do you…Do you think we'll find her?"

"I hope so," Yellow replied, mouth set in a firm line. If they didn't find the renegade here, if they didn't find _any_ gems here, they were likely stranded. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get the escape pod running again even if she had all the necessary supplies, and she didn't. Earth was, for the foreseeable future, their only option.

The two of them made their way through the trees, distracted by the vivid colors and life around them but not lingering for too long. They had a job to do. They had Pearls counting on them, waiting for them.

The renegade Pearl, or any sign of her presence, was nowhere to be found. Neither of them was particularly surprised, but after searching for quite some time it was still rather disheartening. They walked in a wide arc around their ship and then made concentric circles inward, arriving back at it just as the sun appeared to be slipping off the edge of the horizon.

Blue did her best to look optimistic as they sat down on the grass and tried to formulate a better plan. Yellow suggested that they observe the humans, perhaps go to them in disguise to ask about the renegade. Blue was a little unnerved by the thought, both at the prospect of such a fragile lie and the idea of interacting with the humans the renegade had so fiercely protected. What were they like? She wouldn't know how to speak to them and, even with practice, someone would surely notice they didn't belong there.

Together, they watched the sky darken, both with the absence of light and the coming of clouds overhead. Yellow was the first to notice the small droplets that began falling from the sky and she leapt up, grabbing Blue by the arm and hauling her back inside the broken-down escape pod.

"What is that?" she asked nervously.

"I'm not sure." Blue gravitated back to the door. "Is it… Is it water?"

"How should I know? Don't touch it!"

The other Pearl ignored her, stretching one foot out and nudging the damp grass with her toes. "It doesn't seem dangerous."

"And Pearls don't seem like rebels," Yellow huffed. "Get back in here before something goes wrong."

Blue hesitated, then stepped fully outside, hands placed protectively over her gem as she craned her head up to look at the clouds. The droplets slid over her, running down her arms and legs and dampening her hair. She smiled faintly, pushing wet bangs to either side of her face so she could see better. "It's safe," she called. "Come see."

"I'd rather not."

Blue shrugged and ignored her, walking a little ways out into the rain. She knelt in the wet grass and looked up at the clouds again, smiling as the droplets rained down on her face. Part of her had felt like crying ever since they landed—from relief, from fear, from anticipation—but the Earth was doing it for her. The water ran over her, soothing and simple and clean. This was not Homeworld. They made it.

It seemed like ages before Yellow joined her, stepping out tentatively and then hurrying over to Blue. Her legs folded beneath her as she sat, her hands closed tightly around the ends of her skirt. She lost herself in thought watching the rain, enough to startle badly when Blue reached out to take her hand.

"Sorry," she murmured, pressing their shoulders together like they used to when they shared the projections in secret. How long ago had that been? The memories seemed both close and distant here.

"It's fine." Yellow pressed back against her reassuringly, and they watched the rain in silence after that.

Even when it was too dark to see, even when their hair started to hang in odd, wet strands that dripped water onto their necks and shoulders, even when the clouds seemed to have spared all the rain they were able, they sat and watched.

The night sky was different too, and Yellow could easily map out the stars above them. She wasn't sure if she liked that, a part of her thought she might prefer Blue's apparent wonder at the view instead of her own calculated eyes. The moon was bright, near fully lit by the now-absent sun. There's a base there, she thought. That might be important later. So many things might be important, in a rebellion.

She couldn't help but feel like this whole plan was so fragile that they were just getting their hopes up with thoughts of a rebellion, a revolution, something real. But they were here, on Earth, and that was half the battle. If they could do that, then finding the renegade was well within possibility.

She just hoped it wouldn't take too long.

* * *

The two of them retreated to the escape pod in the middle of the night, Blue wringing out her hair before entering and shaking it out again. She wished it would stay back, out of her face, but it was designed to fall forward in imitation of her former Diamond, and she needed to conserve her energy for more important things than shapeshifting.

Instead, she focused on cataloguing all of the items they had with them on the ship, taking one of the destabilizers they'd stolen and strapping it around her waist securely with the standardized belt it had come with. It fit loosely, not meant for a gem of her stature, but when she made it as tight as it could possibly be it hung safely on her hips, the heavy weight reassuring.

She offered one to Yellow too, and she took a second belt, ignoring the intended use and wrapping it twice around her middle instead so it was snug. They both knew destabilizers would do very little to protect them here, but it was something, and they had gone far too long without any _somethings_ to pass up this small chance at self-defense.

Next, they reviewed all the files they had access to on the pod—many of them got corrupted either in the initial data transfer or in the crash and were useless, but they memorized all they could about their new environment. There was very little about anything on the planet itself beyond the basic land structures and oceans, but that was to be expected. Earth was meant to be a colony, and the designs of the finished project made it clear that no gem would have needed to worry about trivial things like environmental changes and the lifestyles of native species.

When the sun came up in the morning, they both agreed to restart their search. This time, they ventured out farther in one direction, towards the ocean. They kept walking until the trees gave way to a sandy, deserted beach. The grains beneath Blue's feet made her think of tiny broken things like the Pearls' remains she kept within her, piling up year after year after year.

Yellow seemed to notice her hesitancy to go any farther, so both of them lingered just off the sand, feet dirtied with mud that reminded her of the rain last night and was comforting in the way it clung.

"Well, they're not here," Yellow said finally, arms crossed resolutely. "We should go back and try a different route."

"You're right," Blue agreed softly. She peered down the beach, wishing some sign of life would appear there, that some clue would point them in the right direction. There was nothing. "We could walk away from the sun," she suggested. "Back towards the city."

Yellow agreed reluctantly; neither of them really wanted to risk it, but they didn't want to waste time either. Perhaps someone there would know if there were other gems around.

This decided, they made their way back in the other direction. It was a long, repetitive trek, and their initial interest and enthusiasm about Earth was starting to dampen. The sun was getting higher now, impatient with their lack of progress. Soon they were nearly back to their base.

Yellow's eyes darted around the clearing, like there was something different there despite its apparent emptiness. She rubbed at her shoulders, one at a time, the way she had started doing on the ship when she was nervous. Blue would have inquired about it, but she felt on edge too, like something was going to happen or should happen or—

"Hello!"

Blue gasped and spun around to see where the voice was coming from, automatically placing herself in front of Yellow, not that she could do much. She grabbed for the destabilizer she had strapped to her waist but froze when she saw who it was.

A small gem, little more than half her height, standing next to a Pearl. He turned and shouted back over his shoulder. "Over here! We found them!" Looking back at the two of them, he asked, "Are you guys okay?"

Blue couldn't quite hear the words, couldn't quite move, eyes locked onto the Pearl and stinging with a rush of emotion she couldn't possibly put a name to. _She's here._

Yellow's hand was on her wrist and squeezing too tightly, but she barely noticed.

They found her. Against all odds, after so many years of just imagining her, she was right there in front of them. She was real.

The renegade Pearl.


	2. Chapter 2

Blue honestly wasn't sure she could move; her knees felt like they might give out but she refused to let them. _The renegade is here. She's here._

She and Yellow were still staring as more gems appeared from the trees behind the renegade Pearl, a mismatched assortment of an Amethyst, a Peridot, and a fusion. The same gems they saw in the files.

"Good work, Steven," the fusion said, eyes seeming to lock onto the strangers beneath her visor. She and the Amethyst stood on either side of the renegade and, despite how different they were from one another, Blue was struck by how natural it looked for the three of them to be together. The Peridot and Steven were shielded from the possibility of a threat, but appeared just as prepared to fight even without any weapons drawn. "Who are you?" the fusion called to them.

"I—We're—" Blue's voice didn't want to work, and she trembled. Did they make a mistake? Would they be treated as enemies? Would the renegade even _want_ to help them? She realized she was still gripping the destabilizer in one hand and quickly snapped it back into her belt.

"We're here to appeal for temporary sanctuary," Yellow said, stepping forward. She held her head high, channeling the precise formality she was accustomed to. "And to make a request on behalf of the Pearls."

The renegade exchanged a quick glance with the other two, looking confused. "What request?" she asked.

Blue's hands, unoccupied now, clasped tightly in front of her and she felt a rush of nervous excitement at the sound of the renegade's voice.

Yellow, who was still doing a better job of appearing confident, stuttered a bit as she answered. "T-To help with a rebellion."

The renegade stared at them, her spear held loosely in one hand.

"A rebellion?" the Amethyst asked before she could say anything. "Against Homeworld?"

Yellow nodded mutely.

"Well, you came to the right place," she declared. "We're in, right, P?"

The renegade blinked and looked down at the Amethyst. "I—That is—I think we need a little more information before we can agree to something like that…" She looked Blue and Yellow over uncertainly.

"I concur," the Peridot said, peeking around the fusion to see them. "That Pearl has always been extremely unreliable."

"Excuse me?" Yellow snapped without thinking, narrowing her eyes at the shorter gem. "I'd like to point out that _I'm_ not the one who used a priority line without authorization just to call Yellow Diamond a clod."

"I was stranded here, and no one responded to my distress signals! How else was I supposed to contact her?" she sputtered. "And that has nothing to do with this! How are we supposed to believe you aren't some kind of spy?" the Peridot demanded.

"What Diamond would send a couple of Pearls to spy on a tiny rebel group that's about to be eliminated anyway?"

"I don't know, apparently logic doesn't mean anything anymore!"

Yellow huffed, fingers working angrily at her sides. "We _are not_ spies."

"She's telling the truth," the fusion said, placing a hand on the Peridot's shoulder. "Stand down, Gems. They're not going to hurt us."

Weapons disappeared, and the smallest of the gems ran ahead of the group to greet them despite the renegade's attempt to keep him back.

He came to a stop just in front of Yellow, smiling up at her. "Hi, I'm Steven! You're the Pearl that was with Yellow Diamond, right?"

"Yes," she said politely, unable to tell exactly what type of gem he was.

"What's your name?"

"I don't really have one. You're welcome to call me Yellow, if that suits your purposes."

Steven frowned, but accepted it with a nod. He turned to Blue. "What about you? You're from Homeworld too, right?"

She nodded slowly. "Blue. Yes, I served in Homeworld courts as well."

"And you're here to see Pearl?" Steven asked excitedly. "Is it a super secret Pearl meeting?"

"Oh, um…yes?" Blue answered. "I mean, it's not exactly secret, but we did want to talk to her." She risked a small glance at the renegade, only to discover she was much closer now, hovering protectively just to Steven's right.

Blue found herself automatically dropping to one knee, legs shaking as she knelt before the renegade with her head bowed. Yellow watched and considered doing the same, but held back. It wasn't her place right now.

The renegade Pearl was wide-eyed and uncertain, shaken by the sudden display of respect. "I—You—Please, stand up." She touched Blue's shoulder nervously, making her lift her head.

Blue trembled as she peered up at her, bangs obscuring her vision.

"I don't understand," she said. "You were Blue Diamond's Pearl, weren't you, during the rebellion?"

The fusion, walking up behind the renegade, nodded. "I remember her. She was there the first time Ruby and Sapphire fused."

Blue gasped slightly. "You're…You're the Ruby and Sapphire that defected to the rebels' side? You look so different…"

"It took time for Ruby and Sapphire to get to know each other," she replied warmly, then stepped forward and held out a hand to help Blue to her feet. "My name is Garnet."

"Garnet," she echoed quietly, a small smile on her lips. She had never even heard of a Garnet, and the thought was thrilling. She allowed Garnet to pull her back up, thin fingers shaking as they touched one of the gems in her palms. "Thank you. I-I'm sorry we arrived so suddenly."

"Don't worry about it," Garnet said. "Welcome to Earth. This is Steven, Amethyst, Peridot, and I think you already know Pearl." She pointed to each of them in turn; Amethyst and Peridot had followed her closer as well. "You don't need to bow to us; we're all equals here."

Blue barely caught herself from doing so and laughed breathily. "It's wonderful to meet you. I'm…I _was_ Blue Diamond's Pearl, and my friend belonged to Yellow Diamond." She gestured for Yellow to join her, which she did.

"We know," Peridot muttered bitterly.

"Nice to meet you," Yellow said to all of them before shifting her gaze back to the technician. "And it's a pleasure to see you again, Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG. How fortunate that you survived the explosion," she added pointedly.

She bristled. "No thanks to you, I'm sure!"

"Whoa, hey, let's chill," Amethyst said, stepping between them. "How did you guys get all the way out here anyway? And when did the whole rebellion thing start? Last time we saw you, you didn't really seem like the type."

"Things changed," Yellow replied nervously. "It will take some time to explain, and we should start from the beginning—if that's alright?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Pearl said quickly, finally seeming to find her voice again. There was an odd silence as she looked between the other two Pearls. "We should go back to the house," she declared suddenly. "Yes. The house. To talk!" She hurried off in the direction they had come from, pulling Steven along with her and leaving the others to trail behind.

Blue and Yellow fell into step next to each other with practiced ease, though they were both tense with anticipation. They ended up walking fairly briskly beside Amethyst and not too far behind Pearl.

"Hey," Amethyst said.

"Hello," Yellow replied. It felt strange, being taller than a Quartz, but it also felt a little safer—just barely. This one didn't seem particularly aggressive either, and that was always a relief.

She gave the two of them an appraising look. "Isn't that one of P's old outfits?"

Ahead of them, Pearl inhaled sharply and turned around to get a better look at them. "That…is, yes," she said uncomfortably.

"I-I'm sorry, should we change?" Blue asked, face coloring. "I didn't mean any disrespect."

"No, no, it's fine," Pearl said quickly. "I was just surprised." She spun around again and kept walking, Steven hurrying after her and catching her hand. She slowed down a little and gave him an appreciative smile.

Amethyst watched the two of them for a second and then shrugged. "So that's not a standard Pearl thing?"

"No," Yellow supplied when Blue didn't answer. "Our Diamonds preferred us in accessories catering to their individual preferences."

"Oh yeah, those weird puffy shoulder things, right?" Amethyst laughed. "And, you know, _thigh-highs._ "

"…Yes," she agreed reluctantly, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious. "Were you eavesdropping on the Diamond communication channel?"

"Sure was," she answered cheerfully. "Yellow D's face when Peri called her a clod—" She shapeshifted into a startlingly similar copy of Yellow Diamond's expression, then burst out laughing as she changed back. "Oh man, that was priceless!"

Yellow stared at Amethyst, wondering how exactly that could be interpreted as _funny_ and not outright terrifying. Though…light years away, maybe it was a little bit amusing. Blue was hiding a small grin behind her hand as well.

Amethyst turned her attention to Blue. "So what's up with you? Not a big talker?"

Yellow let out a sharp bark of laughter, then looked away uncomfortably when Amethyst gave her a curious look. "Sorry," she muttered. "She talks a lot, mostly about things she isn't supposed to."

"Nice," Amethyst laughed. "And you don't have to apologize," she added, looking at Yellow. "Just talk however you want; you don't need to be all polite about it."

"Thank you," she replied doubtfully.

"I'm sorry I haven't been talking much," Blue offered, face flushed slightly. "I'm just a little overwhelmed. I almost didn't expect us to find… You to find us, I suppose."

"You crashed a spaceship into our planet. It would be weirder if we _didn't_ notice you." Amethyst gave her a friendly pat on the back. "Anyway, you're our first visitors from Homeworld that haven't tried to kill us, so thanks for that."

Blue gave her a tiny smile, trying not to flinch. "You're welcome?"

They soon arrived at a warp pad and everyone crowded onto it, just barely fitting. Yellow and Blue stood facing each other, nearly nose to nose, and Yellow gave her a crooked smile that she hoped was some tiny degree of reassurance in all the chaos of Earth. The warp stream activated, and soon they had all appeared in the house Pearl must have been talking about. There was a gem-activated door behind them, but they were ushered into what must have been a human-designed structure built around it instead.

"Please, sit down," Pearl offered, gesturing to the sofa. She and the other Crystal Gems scattered themselves throughout the room—Steven and Peridot on the smaller end of the sofa, Garnet leaning comfortably against the wall, Amethyst sprawled out on the floor. Pearl was perched carefully in the corner of the sofa next to Steven, watching as Yellow and Blue took their seats on her other side.

"So how _did_ you two make it out here?" Amethyst repeated curiously.

They exchanged a brief look, and Yellow did the speaking for both of them. "We stole a transport vessel and used the escape pod to get to Earth."

"You _what?_ " Peridot asked incredulously.

Pearl just looked amazed. "All the way from Homeworld?"

"Wow, that's badass," Amethyst said with a grin.

"Amethyst, _language,_ " Pearl chided, covering Steven's ears with her hands and glaring at her.

"What's…badass?" Yellow looked between them uncertainly.

"It means it was impressive," Peridot explained, looking particularly smug about being able to answer the question.

"Thank you," Blue said, directing a smile towards Amethyst.

"But there's no way a couple of Pearls could steal an entire ship like that," Peridot continued. "Not right under the Diamonds' noses!" She caught Garnet's warning look and rushed onward. "I mean, it would be impossible for _any_ gem to steal a ship, even the most technologically competent ones."

"Yes, I'm sure a _competent_ gem such as yourself would never be able to accomplish such a thing," Yellow muttered under her breath.

Peridot hissed angrily and started to say something, but Steven grabbed her arm.

"Come on, please don't fight, you guys." He looked at Blue and Yellow. "I think it's really cool you did something so tough."

Yellow's face gained a tinge of color.

"I agree," Pearl said with a smile. "I expect it wasn't easy."

"We managed," she replied, ducking her head.

"What exactly is your current status in regards to Homeworld, though?" Pearl asked. "Do they know you're here?"

"Good question," Garnet said, adjusting her visor. "We need to know whether to expect anyone else coming after you."

Blue gulped and fidgeted with her hands. "Not…exactly."

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked worriedly.

"They don't think we made it out of the explosion," Yellow answered, "but they'll be coming anyway."

"Explosion?" Steven asked.

" _Who's_ coming?" Pearl demanded.

"I don't know, probably a handful of gems—more than just a Peridot and a Jasper this time, I'm sure." Yellow shrugged. "That's a part of why we came too. You needed to know what to expect and, well, we'll do what we can in return for your help."

"We'll help either way," Blue interjected quickly, ignoring the pointed look Yellow gave her.

"Well, thank you, but—I don't quite understand. Why are they sending more gems? Because of what Peridot did?"

The small gem scowled and crossed her arms. "Please, they'd come check on the Cluster anyway since my reports never went through properly."

"But your insubordination definitely didn't help matters," Yellow argued. "My—Yellow Diamond is quite set on making sure that Cluster is completed on schedule now."

Peridot scoffed. " _Your_ Diamond is borderline irrational when it comes to this planet."

"I am well aware," she replied coolly. "And she is _not_ my Diamond anymore."

The words settled uncomfortably in the room, making everything quiet.

Pearl cleared her throat awkwardly. "May I ask how the two of you knew we were here?"

"You weren't exactly subtle about destroying the Red Eye," Yellow answered, though there was more appreciation in her voice than spite now that her attention was directed away from Peridot.

"No, er, that's not quite what I meant…" Pearl glanced sideways at Garnet. "How did you know about the Crystal Gems, before that? I always assumed Homeworld tried to keep the rebellion quiet after the war was over."

"They did," Blue offered quietly, and she blushed as Pearl turned her attention to her. "We…I…" She clasped her hands together tightly. "I shared my memories with the other Pearls. Like Garnet said, I was there that day when you came to Blue Diamond's court and…" She looked to Yellow for support.

"She's been telling Pearls about you ever since," she supplied succinctly. "I only heard about it recently, but I saw you in the Red Eye data and we knew we had to come find you."

"Ever…Ever since the _rebellion?_ " Pearl echoed, eyes wide. "That's millennia, how did you even manage to do that without getting caught?"

Blue fidgeted slightly, pressing the sole of one foot over the other as she nodded, hesitant. "During our rest cycles mostly. No one really monitors us."

"That doesn't mean it's not dangerous!" Pearl said, looking conflicted.

"I know, but it was important." She lowered her eyes. " _You_ were important. You're the only Pearl who's ever done something so…so amazing."

Her cheeks went a bright, bright turquoise and she began to wave her hands about nervously. "Well! I mean—thank you, that's very kind of you, but I'm really not—"

"She's right," Garnet interrupted warmly.

"Yeah, P," Amethyst added with a grin, "I bet Homeworld never even saw you coming."

Pearl looked increasingly flustered as they spoke.

"The terrifying renegade," Garnet teased with a smirk.

Blue's eyes lit up. "Exactly! It was unheard of for a Pearl to fight; the early reports made her sound so…so strong!"

"But—"

"She _is_ really strong!" Steven agreed excitedly.

"Not to mention proficient in a number of other areas," Peridot added with a shrug. "It's no wonder Homeworld tries to pretend that rebellion never happened."

"Well, that was all thanks to Rose! It's not like _I_ was leading the—" She looked down in surprise as a pair of arms circled her waist and hugged her tightly. "Steven? What is it?"

"Nothing," he said, smiling up at her with warm, sparkling eyes. "You're just really cool. I think Mom would be proud of you for being that important to the other Pearls too."

Pearl's eyes watered a little and she put her arms around Steven, squeezing him gently. After a few moments, she let go, straightened his shirt, and smiled. "Thank you, Steven." She took a deep breath and turned back to Blue, a little calmer now. "And thank you. I never expected anyone would attempt anything of the sort, never mind a _Diamond's_ Pearl. You'd have been shattered immediately if anyone caught you spreading ideas like that amongst everyone."

Blue cringed a little, but forced a quick smile.

"Oh, um, that wasn't quite how I meant to…"

She shook her head. "It's alright. It was an honor."

Pearl blushed again, averting her eyes. "Anyway! If Homeworld really is sending more gems to Earth as you said, then we have a lot to do."

"Wait," Yellow interjected. "Shouldn't the Cluster take priority here? I think it should be possible to neutralize it if—"

"We already did that," Peridot interrupted.

"What?"

"Yeah, we kinda took care of that already," Steven said brightly. "We made a big drill and everybody worked together and we saved Earth! All in a day's work," he finished proudly.

"That was nearly two months' work, Steven," Pearl corrected.

"Give or take a few days for when Peri discovered _Camp Pining Hearts,_ " Amethyst added.

"That was time well spent learning about Earth culture!" Peridot protested, blushing. "Though I _suppose_ it could have waited until after the drill was completed…"

"Well, um, that's good then, that the Cluster is taken care of?" Blue said, a little lost.

"Quite," Pearl agreed. "Now that we have that out of the way, I suppose we need to discuss the matter of a rebellion. I don't mean to sound critical, but that is going to require quite a lot of time and effort."

"We know," Yellow said, unaffected.

"Moreover…" Pearl looked to Garnet briefly. "If we are truly expecting more gems to come to Earth, then we can't leave."

"We have a responsibility to care for this planet," Garnet agreed.

"We understand," Blue said carefully. "Your loyalty is to this place now. We don't want to stand in the way of that."

"But the reality is we are having this rebellion, and our chances of success will go up exponentially if you agree to help us," Yellow cut in.

"Then what if we help each other?" All eyes turned to Steven as he spoke up. "Blue and Yellow can help us protect Earth from Homeworld, and then we can help the Pearls with their rebellion afterward."

"Would that work?" Amethyst asked the two of them. "Or do you need to go back right away?"

Yellow grimaced. "Our 'ship' isn't exactly in flying condition. Even if we planned to leave immediately, it would take time to make the repairs."

"That's perfect!" Steven said enthusiastically. "You can hang out here, and we'll help you fix your ship, and then we'll all go to Homeworld together."

" _Excuse me?_ " Peridot screeched. "I can't go back to Homeworld; Yellow Diamond will kill me!"

"We'll discuss who's going later," Garnet said calmly. "For now, I think we have a plan."

"Yes," Pearl agreed. "Does that sound alright?" she asked the other two Pearls politely.

Blue nodded. "Thank you, we're in your debt."

"As are we," Garnet countered with a smile. "Your warning gives us time to prepare."

"Isn't part of you a Sapphire though?" Yellow asked curiously before biting her tongue, thinking she had been too forward. It was one thing to mouth off to a Peridot, but Garnet seemed to be in charge and she didn't want to end up offending her by accident with nosy questions.

"Future vision isn't a perfect science," she replied with a one-shouldered shrug.

"Oh," Yellow said, "I didn't realize." She wondered how such a thing _did_ work, but now probably wasn't the time to ask. "What would you like us to do?" she tried instead.

"Before we do anything," Pearl interjected, "we should move your ship back here."

"Our ship?" Yellow asked blankly.

"Yes, we don't want humans finding it and getting themselves into trouble," she replied.

"Oh, of course, our apologies," Blue said. "We'll try to move it."

"No need," Garnet said. "Amethyst and Pearl can help you."

"Yeah, we got this," Amethyst agreed, sitting up and stretching. "You game, P?"

"Of course," Pearl responded with a warm smile.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know if we can get it moving again even with your help," Yellow said. "It's pretty badly damaged."

"Oh, we're not going to _fix_ it," Amethyst said, waving her hand dismissively. "We're gonna carry it."

"…Carry?" She looked between the two of them and tried to find a polite way to point out that it seemed unlikely that three Pearls and an undersized Amethyst would be able to carry something that large back across such a long distance. They could move it, sure, but not easily. They'd probably have to push it all the way here. They certainly wouldn't be able to warp it back.

"You'll see," she said with a mischievous smirk. "Come on, it'll be fun."

Blue and Yellow exchanged an unsure look and followed them over to the warp pad.

Pearl stood just behind them and she touched their shoulders lightly, careful not to surprise them. "I know it's a lot to take in," she said in a low voice. "Just try and keep an open mind, and don't be afraid to ask questions."

Yellow felt a tiny bit of weight lifted from her chest with the words, and she looked to Pearl, relieved. "Thanks." She exchanged a small smile with Blue. "Everyone's really equal here?" she asked quietly.

"Yes."

The answer was so straightforward that it made the unbelievable seem believable.

Yellow wasn't quite sure about it yet, but as she slid her hand into Blue's out of habit she couldn't help but be grateful that they ended up here, on Earth, where a Pearl could say something like that and mean it. She didn't know how most rebellions started, but it seemed reasonable that it would be with something like this: just a thought, and the courage to say it. Equals. Pearls were equal.

It sounded strange, and she didn't say it aloud just yet, but it was hope. It meant that when they'd stood in that dim room projecting images of a legendary renegade to hundreds of Pearls, that dangerous want they'd all felt was for something attainable.

And, stars, if she did anything, she would make sure they attained it.


	3. Chapter 3

"So," Amethyst said with a mischievous smirk as they arrived at the other warp pad, "you like dancing?"

Yellow hesitated, wondering if it was a trick question. Did she want her to answer that truthfully? Seeing that the gem was waiting expectantly for her response and Pearl was giving them a small encouraging nod over Amethyst's shoulder, she said, "Not particularly, but I can do it if needed."

"What?" Amethyst wrinkled her nose. "No, you don't have to do anything. Do you like _watching_ people dance, I mean."

"Not particularly," she repeated honestly.

Amethyst just laughed. "Wow, you don't pull any punches, do you?"

"Sorry."

"No, no, don't be sorry, it's just funny!" She elbowed Pearl. "I'm used to this one twirling all over the place." She turned to Blue. "What about you?"

"I like dancing," she said carefully. "Or…I like dancing itself. I don't like being ordered to do it very much."

Amethyst's face fell a bit. "Yeah, that would suck."

"We don't have that kind of dancing here," Pearl told them. "On Earth, dancing is usually for personal enjoyment. Or, for gems, it can also aid us in synchronizing with one another in order to fuse."

"Yeah, we'll show you how we do it here," Amethyst said, leading the way back to their ship.

Pearl followed her, leaving Blue and Yellow to stare after them for a few stunned seconds.

"Did she say _fuse?_ " Yellow hissed under her breath.

"Yes." Blue's voice trembled with excitement. "Do you think they're going to?"

" _Those two?_ "

"Why not?"

For once, Yellow couldn't come up with an answer to that question. She could list off a hundred reasons why an Amethyst and a Pearl would never even think of fusing on Homeworld. She could cite rules and precedents and social norms. But none of those things applied here, and while that was unsettling and foreign, she was starting to like just how radical the rebels here seemed to be. After all, a half-hearted rebellion wouldn't be any rebellion at all.

She took Blue's hand and hurried after the other two gems quickly.

Pearl and Amethyst stopped just outside the escape pod, waiting for them to catch up.

"Is there anything inside?" Pearl asked them. "We'll be careful, obviously, but it would probably be best to remove anything you need now."

"Oh! Yes, just a moment please," Blue said quickly, half-bowing before she hurried inside to gather their equipment. She staggered out of the door a moment later with a large box, and Yellow hurried to help her steady it.

"Whoa, what's all that?" Amethyst asked, coming over and lifting it out of their hands despite Blue's stammered protests that she could manage.

"We took what we could from the main ship before it got destroyed," Yellow replied. "It's mostly destabilizers and a few other supplies."

"So that's where you got those," Pearl mused, eyes darting to the weapons strapped to their waists.

"I'm sorry, we didn't have any other way to defend ourselves," Blue said. "We'd never use them on _you._ "

"Oh, no, that's quite alright," Pearl replied, lifting her hands in a placating manner. "It was smart to take them; I imagine they'll be of use in the near future."

Her face went dark blue at the praise and she dipped her head shyly.

"Ready to go, P?" Amethyst asked, setting the box down on the ground.

Pearl nodded, stretching out her arms and legs briefly.

"You're really going to fuse?" Yellow asked incredulously.

"Sure, why not?" Amethyst replied. "Oh, this is another weird Homeworld thing, isn't it?"

"Pearls don't fuse," Blue said quietly. "And you're of a much higher status, so—"

"Ugh, no, we are _not_ doing the 'you're a Quartz' thing again. Listen up."

Blue gulped and straightened her shoulders.

"Homeworld's a mess," Amethyst said bluntly. "And I don't mean the fun kind." She glanced at Pearl briefly, but the other gem was gazing off into the distance. "There's no reason you can't fuse with whoever who want."

"But Pearls don't…" Yellow began tentatively.

"On Earth they do. Pearls can do whatever they want here, and so can everybody else. As long as you're not hurting anyone, nobody cares. Okay?"

"Okay," the two of them answered meekly.

"Cool." Amethyst grinned. "You ready to see a giant woman?"

Blue nodded eagerly, alight with excitement.

The two of them watched with wide eyes as Pearl and Amethyst joined hands a few yards away.

"She's really fusing with an _Amethyst_ ," Yellow whispered, stunned.

"What do you think it's like?" Blue wondered.

"Don't ask me."

It was a short dance, but perhaps a little showy for their sake. Pearl kept the precise movements of the dances they'd seen or performed back on Homeworld, but there was something more to it that they couldn't identify and Amethyst was lending it a sense of spontaneity which changed it entirely. Pearl spun in towards her, and there was immediately a bright glow, the two gems' forms melding together into a large, four-armed fusion.

"Oh my stars," Yellow yelped, grabbing Blue's arm and taking a few steps backwards. The fusion was tall, bigger than Garnet and likely capable of snapping both of them in two without any real effort.

"It's alright," the fusion said, bending down. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Blue hesitantly stepped forward, despite Yellow's protests. "Do you have a name?"

"Opal," she said with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. How…How does it feel to be a fusion?"

"I don't know...peaceful? Complete? I'm not sure what other fusions feel like."

"It's possible to form a stable multi-gem fusion that easily on Earth?" Yellow queried from a safer distance.

"It would be possible anywhere," Opal replied. "Homeworld just doesn't want anyone figuring that out."

"Can you fight?" she asked bluntly.

"Yes, with a combination of Pearl and Amethyst's weapons."

Blue stared up at her with wide eyes, daring to push her hair out of her face. "You're incredible," she breathed.

Opal chuckled and settled beside her on her knees so she wasn't towering over them quite as much. "You can be whoever you want to be here," she offered.

Yellow gave her a skeptical look. They were still Pearls, even if they were rebels and traitors; that wasn't going to change just because of what planet they were on.

"I mean you can choose," Opal clarified for her. "You can try new things if you want to."

Blue's face colored slightly as she tried to imagine what it would be like to try fusion. "O-Oh."

"But it's probably too soon to be thinking about all that," Opal said thoughtfully. "Go at your own pace."

She nodded faintly. "Thank you."

"Amethyst and Pearl will be happy to help with anything you need, so don't hesitate to ask." She paused, thinking. "Wait, no, I'm supposed to be helping with something now, aren't I?"

"The ship?" Yellow prompted, looking a little confused by the question.

"Oh, that's right! Well, let's get this back to temple," Opal declared, standing up and stretching her arms out. She walked in a circle around the ship, trying to determine the best way to move it. "Or maybe the barn would be a better choice? Yes, I think that'll make it easier for everyone later."

She hefted the ship up halfway off the ground and ducked down a little to get her other pair of arms under it as support.

"Amethyst may have been a little hasty in saying I could carry this," she commented.

"Do you need help?" Blue offered, though she had no idea what help she would be able to provide in this situation.

"Oh, no, no, I've got it. I can drag it back." Opal shifted it a little, getting her arms into a better position to and straightening up. "Would you two mind walking ahead and making sure I don't walk backwards into something?"

"Not at all!" Blue hurried ahead of Opal as they began the walk back, Yellow quickly joining her. They shared the load of supplies between them, watching the path. "She must be a great fighter," she said quietly. "Do you think—"

Yellow gave her an impatient look. "Pearls don't know how to fuse, and I'm pretty sure that's the only Amethyst in the universe that would deign to try it with one anyway, so no. That's not a sound tactic at any stage of the rebellion."

"I suppose," Blue said wistfully. It was still a nice thought.

* * *

Once they were back at the house, Opal unfused, leaving Pearl and Amethyst standing just inside the door as Steven came rushing over.

"Aww, Opal can't stick around for a while?"

"Some other time, little man, Opal's tired." Amethyst ruffled Steven's hair.

"Okay," he agreed, smiling. "Did you get the spaceship?"

"Yes, we left it at the barn," Pearl replied, dusting off her tunic. "Peridot, perhaps you and I could take a look at it in the morning."

"Sure," Peridot agreed, not looking up from the small device she had in her hands. "If nothing else, I can strip it for parts. Your Earth technology is still leagues away from Homeworld's; maybe now I can accomplish something without having to come up with new ways to utilize all your primitive machinery."

"Hey, creativity's good for you," Amethyst said, slapping her on the back and nearly making her drop what she was holding.

"Amethyst!" she protested. "I had a _perfect score!_ "

"Oops," she said, looking unapologetic.

"Regardless, let's not strip anything for parts until we see whether or not we can fix it," Pearl interjected before Yellow could chime in with her own argument. "I'm almost certain we can, it will just take…"

She continued on about all the materials and tools they would need, and Amethyst rolled her eyes. "The wonder nerds will be happy to have a new project." She caught Yellow's curious look. "Pearl and Peri," she clarified. "And if you want the definition of nerd, there's a great example right there."

"Is 'nerd' an insult?" Yellow asked.

"Depends," Amethyst said noncommittally.

She resolved to find some sort of index for Earth language as soon as she was able.

"Excuse me," Blue cut in, hoping that she wasn't overstepping. "Pearl, um, said it was okay to ask questions?"

"Yeah, anytime," Amethyst agreed amiably. "What's up?"

"Fusion," she said immediately. "How does it work? How does it feel?"

"Wow, okay," Amethyst said with a grin. "Well, I'm not an expert like the G-squad, but I'll see what I can do. I don't know how it _works_ and all that technical stuff, but it feels good."

"Do you do it often?"

"Uh…kinda regularly, I guess? We've gotten better at forming Opal lately, and she's nice to have on some missions, so we've been fusing more often than we used to."

"Is it difficult?" Yellow asked curiously.

"Ehhh, yeah, I guess it _can_ be, but it's not _supposed_ to be. If you're doing it with somebody you trust and you know how to get in sync with each other, it's easy."

"And you can maintain it for a long time?"

"Opal usually sticks around for a few hours, but that's about it. I mean, I guess we _could_ fuse for longer, but we're not really into that; it's more Garnet's thing."

"Oh, she's fused often?" Blue asked.

"She's _always_ fused."

"Really?" she asked, astonished. "I didn't know that was possible!"

"What happens to her component gems?" Yellow wondered. "Do they stop existing?"

"What? No, it doesn't work like that; they just like being together." Amethyst shrugged. "If you want details, you'll have to ask her."

"Is that okay?" Blue asked worriedly.

"Sure," she said, looking at her askance. "You don't need permission for everything."

"Oh. Right." Blue straightened her shoulders. "So, um, you like fusing then?"

"It's _awesome._ You interested?"

Her face went a deep, deep blue. "I-I…Are you…Are you asking _me_ if I want to fuse with…?"

"What? No, come on, we just met," Amethyst laughed. "I meant in general."

"Oh," she squeaked out, embarrassed. She pressed a hand over her gem. "I…might be? I'm not really sure."

"Amethyst," Pearl cut in with a frown, breaking away from the rapid-fire technical exchange she was having with Peridot, "they just got here. Give them some time to adjust before you start asking those kinds of questions."

"Hey, she asked, I was just curious." Amethyst flashed Blue a quick smile. "Sorry," she added apologetically. "No pressure."

"Th-Thanks," she managed in a tiny voice. "It's okay."

"Anyway," Pearl continued, "it's nearly Steven's bedtime, so we should call it a day."

"What's bedtime?" Yellow asked.

"It's like a rest cycle, except humans require it every day," she explained.

" _Every day?_ "

"They're incredibly inefficient beings," Peridot interjected.

"Hey," Steven complained, "that's rude."

"It's still true." She handed over the device she had been playing with. "Here's your phone. Thank you for letting me use it."

"No problem!"

"Unless one of you requires my presence, I'm going to over to the barn." She glanced sideways at Yellow. "Don't let them touch any of my things."

"They won't," Garnet said, sounding mildly amused. "Have fun." Once Peridot had slipped out, she turned to Steven and ruffled his hair. "Bedtime."

"Do I have to?"

"If you want to give Yellow and Blue a tour in the morning."

His face lit up and he hurried off to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

"Garnet—" Pearl began, looking apprehensive.

"One of us will go with them," Garnet reassured her. "Amethyst, would you mind keeping these two company tonight?"

"You got it, boss." Amethyst beckoned the two of them forward. "Come on, I'll show you my room."

Blue and Yellow followed her warily, taking only a brief look over their shoulders at the gems behind them. Yellow caught sight of the strange expression on Pearl's face and quickly turned away, wondering what it meant. It was fair that the renegade would be suspicious of them, she supposed, but there seemed to be something else there and she couldn't place it.

Well, she decided, it didn't matter if the renegade liked them or not as long as she helped. That was all they'd come here for anyway.

* * *

"Pearl," Garnet called, stepping into her room and catching sight of the other gem atop one of the water towers.

"Garnet," she said, turning quickly like she had been caught, though she hadn't been doing anything besides standing there in silence. "Is there a mission?"

"No. Can I join you?"

Pearl nodded. "Of course." She watched Garnet leap up to the tower and then joined her in sitting on the edge, their feet dangling freely off the side. She knew full well why the fusion had decided to check in on her, though she was reluctant to start that conversation. Instead, they sat in silence, Garnet letting her wrap a hand around her arm without questioning why she needed to. "What do you think of them?" Pearl asked finally, eyes darting towards the door.

Garnet considered it for a moment. "I think they're clever, brave, and a little bit impulsive. Not unlike another Pearl I know."

"You think I'm impulsive?" she asked, looking mildly offended.

"Sometimes." She smirked. "Not like Amethyst is, but in your own way."

"Hmm."

"What do _you_ think of them?" Garnet prompted her.

Pearl let out a slow breath. "I don't know what to think of them." She let go of Garnet's arm and curled her fingers together. "Sometimes I used to wonder, about whether Pearls could someday…" She shook her head quickly. "I always thought it wouldn't be possible, that it was a battle we wouldn't be able to win. But those two believe they can. What does that make me?"

"Their inspiration, from the looks of it."

Pearl turned to her desperately. "I wasn't trying to be."

"Does it matter?" Garnet removed her visor, letting it dissolve into light. "There was always going to be a catalyst, Pearl."

"I'm not sure I want that responsibility." She bit her lip. "They came to Earth because they thought I could help them. They risked _everything._ And Pearls have precious little to risk, even if they serve a Diamond, but they could have been shattered a hundred times over for what they've done."

"They chose it for themselves," Garnet said softly. "You know how important that is."

"I do," she agreed in a whisper. "And I want to help them, really. But what can _I_ do?"

"Teach them," she answered easily. "They're going to need your strength, Pearl. You've been free for thousands of years and they're still new to all this."

Pearl stared down at her knees. "I'm not so sure I'm the best gem for that."

"And I'm pretty sure you're wrong," Garnet said with a small smile, eyes softening.

Pearl laughed weakly. "I suppose I can try," she said, a little bit of determination returning to her face.

Garnet nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing. "The rest of us are here too."

"Thank you." She sat in silence for a few long moments. "You really think we can trust them then?"

"We'll be careful, but I think they deserve a chance. You don't?"

"They just showed up out of nowhere; I'm not particularly inclined to trust gems I've only met once or twice in passing." Pearl sighed and shook her head. "Though to be fair, I suppose things weren't much different when it was _me_ defecting, and I wouldn't be here if Rose hadn't believed in me." She closed her eyes. "It's been so long since I've been around other Pearls. I used to _be_ them, but it's uncanny. They're so…"

Garnet waited patiently.

"New," Pearl finished uncertainly. "Naïve, maybe, as much as a Pearl can be. Like I was when I first joined Rose. We latch onto that idea of freedom without really understanding it and then we don't know how to accept it once it's available." Her shoulders slumped a little. "It's so black and white to them right now, but it doesn't stay that way. It's not just Homeworld or Earth, it's…it's both, they both start to exist inside of you and you can't just pick one and forget the other."

"I know," she said quietly. "It's the same for me—for Ruby and Sapphire. Not nearly as hard as it must be for you, but it's still difficult." She smiled. "It's worth it though."

Pearl nodded slowly, tracing her fingers over the surface of the water as she began to sing quietly. " _Life and death and love and birth and peace and war on the planet Earth_ …"

Garnet smiled as she joined her. " _Is there anything that's worth more than peace and love on the planet Earth?_ "

The melody hung, half-incomplete, in the air. Pearl straightened her shoulders. "There's a lot of work to be done," she said finally, a small smile on her face as she turned to Garnet.

"Definitely," she agreed.

"Yes. I'll look at the ship in the morning, and then assess their fighting capabilities." She hurried on, mind busy sorting through what needed to be accomplished. "We can gather information on Homeworld from the ship's database in order to know how to prepare for their arrival. From there, we should be able to determine the best way to move forward and put together a solid defensive strategy…" She thought for a moment. "I'll have to talk to Steven about Pearls too—properly, I mean. I don't think I can postpone that conversation any longer. And he is _not_ going to Homeworld; that's much too risky—"

"One thing at a time, Pearl," Garnet reminded her gently. "Is there anything you'd like help with tonight?"

"Yes," she declared, rising to her feet. "I need to finish Steven's laundry."

Garnet hid a smile and followed Pearl's brisk strides out of the temple.

Yes, she decided, Pearl would be fine. There might be a lot of possibilities awaiting them in the future, but she didn't need to worry about her. Pearl might still be learning how to take care of herself, but she had always excelled at being strong for others and as of late she seemed to have found a way to balance the two ideas in her mind. No doubt thanks to Steven, Garnet knew, and she was glad that someone had finally been able to get the message through to her friend.

 _She's not common, she's amazing._

* * *

The cycle of day and night on Earth appeared to dictate the Crystal Gems' actions to some extent, and Blue wondered if the gems here also participated in the "sleeping" ritual. She wished they could have observed it, but understandably no one seemed particularly keen on leaving the two Pearls to their own devices in the house, especially with Steven there. She'd come to realize via a few more subtle questions and observations that Steven was quite young and somehow not fully matured, and the others seemed to share some sort of caretaking role. Blue and Yellow were a bit apprehensive at the thought of joining Amethyst in her room for the duration of the cycle, but they understood the reasoning and didn't want to offend her by rejecting the hospitality they were being shown.

The small Quartz led them through a maze of miscellaneous objects stacked high above their heads and Blue briefly wondered if they were meant to clean it for her.

"So what do you think?" Amethyst asked, waving a hand vaguely at the room in its entirety.

"It's very nice?" Blue offered politely.

"It's very eclectic," Yellow said in a flat voice.

Amethyst burst out laughing, surprising both of them. "You two are a riot."

"Is that a good thing?" Blue asked. _Riot._ Like rebellion?

"Yeah, yeah, it's good!" She leaned against one of the piles and it shifted just enough to make Blue take a step back in anticipation of it toppling. "So what do you want to do? Humans sleep a lot, so we have a while."

They exchanged a brief glance, neither really sure how to answer.

Amethyst seemed to realize they were a little lost, and ticked off some options on her fingers. "I can show you all my cool stuff, we can eat, we can talk, we can sleep, I can tell you embarrassing stories about Pearl…" She shrugged. "Pick whatever, it's win-win."

Yellow's brow furrowed in confusion. "It's what?"

"It's a saying, it means they're all good," she explained quickly. "People here like making up a bunch of weird phrases."

"What for?"

"Beats me," Amethyst said. "Some of them seem to translate okay in our heads and others just _whoosh_ right over them. Didn't realize just how much until Peri joined." She tugged something out of the pile she was leaning on and tossed it into the next one over. "I've only ever lived here, so I'm used to it."

"You've never been to Homeworld?" Blue asked curiously.

"Nope," she answered, looking away. "Earth's my Homeworld."

"That must be wonderful."

Amethyst stared at Blue, taken aback by the genuine envy and wistfulness in her voice. "Uh, yeah," she said awkwardly. "I guess it's pretty cool."

"Can you teach us about it?" Yellow asked. "If you have time?"

"Sure I can." She grinned. "You came to the right gem. Wait here, I'm gonna grab some stuff."

They watched her go, gathering assorted things from around the room.

"She's so different," Blue said quietly. "She doesn't act like a Quartz at all."

"She fights like one though," Yellow countered, remembering what she'd seen in the files. "She's probably just as strong as a full-size Amethyst."

"And she fused with a _Pearl._ Like it was second nature." She touched her gem lightly. "And she treats us like…"

"Like we matter," Yellow finished quietly.

"'Cause you _do_ matter," Amethyst said from behind, startling them. When they turned, they found an unusually serious expression on her face. "You matter a lot."

The candid honesty in her voice hit both of them hard, and they couldn't find anything to say in response.

"That's Earth Lesson Number One," she said after a moment, injecting a lighter tone into the conversation. "Everybody matters. Got it?"

"Got it," they chorused.

The three of them shared a small, tentative smile and Amethyst dumped a pile of things on the ground, gesturing for them to sit down.

"Good. Now get ready, we've got a _lot_ of cool Earth junk to cover."


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Amethyst led Blue and Yellow out of her room, Pearl and Peridot were both long gone. Garnet and Steven were both waiting in the kitchen though, and the small gem called out an excited greeting through a mouthful of food.

"Good morning!" he said once more after he had swallowed.

"Good morning." Blue hovered next to the table, not sure if she should sit down or not. "Is that 'breakfast'?"

"Yep! You want some?"

"N-No, thanks," she replied, feeling a little more confident about answering in the negative after Amethyst had talked them through Earth culture in a somewhat roundabout way. "Maybe later."

"Okay." He took another bite. "It's fine if you don't, Pearl doesn't really like eating either."

"I don't understand the point," Yellow said, taking one of the seats after only a second's hesitation. "We're not humans."

"Well, it tastes good," Steven offered, shrugging.

"And it feels weird," Amethyst volunteered, her head in the fridge. "It's fun."

"I'll pass," Yellow said, wrinkling her nose.

"Fair enough," she agreed. "So what are you guys up to today, Garnet?"

"Steven wanted to give Blue and Yellow a tour around Beach City," Garnet replied, "but we're going to stick close to home for now."

"Cool. Well, I'm gonna go take a nap," Amethyst said, popping something into her mouth. "Yell if you need anything."

Yellow watched Amethyst leave and then cleared her throat. "The ship…?"

"Pearl and Peridot are taking a look at it now, but you're welcome to go and help them," Garnet said.

She frowned. "Yes, I did make a few modifications mid-flight that might need to be explained."

"We can end our tour over at the barn!" Steven suggested brightly.

"That would be acceptable," she replied, inclining her head politely. "When do we depart?"

"Uhh…" Steven stuck one last bite of syrupy waffle into his mouth. "Now?"

Yellow shrugged, and Blue hid a smile when she saw the way his cheeks were puffed up with the food. Garnet stuck the empty plate in the sink and looked the two of them over while Steven finished chewing.

"Have fun with Amethyst?" she asked after a moment.

Blue nodded, pushing her hair back briefly. "She told us about some of the Earth things she likes. I think I might like to try eating...eventually."

"You're welcome to anything in the house," Garnet said, "but you might want to wait until after your training."

"Our…?" Her eyes went wide. " _Training?_ "

"Pearl wants to see what you've got. If you're starting a rebellion, you're going to need to know how to fight."

"She's going to show us?" Yellow leaned forward eagerly. "Today?"

"Yep."

They exchanged an excited look, Blue's hands clasping in front of her gem. "Thank you," she breathed.

Garnet smiled. "Thank Pearl, it was her idea." She went over to the sink and began running water so she could wash the dishes. "Ready to get started, Steven?"

"Yeah!" Steven gestured broadly to the house in general, arms sweeping out to either side. "It's a pretty short tour! So this is the kitchen, that's the living room, that's the bathroom, and up there is my room. Come on, I've got some cool stuff to show you."

He ran up the steps, Blue and Yellow trailing after him.

"Feel free to look around!" Steven said, reaching over to a shelf to grab something. The two Pearls watched him for a moment, and then cautiously turned their eyes to the rest of the room.

"Are these logs?" Blue asked, pointing at the small row of books on one shelf.

"Kinda," Steven said, pulling the first one out. "They're comics, so they're stories with pictures." He offered the book to her.

Blue looked at both sides of the cover and then carefully cracked it open. "Portable art," she mused, skimming the page. "It looks nice. Do they all have different stories inside?"

"Yeah, and some of them have longer stories. That one's got twelve volumes in it."

"' _Sailor Moon_ ,'" she read off the cover, tilting her head.

"You can read that?" Yellow asked, taken aback.

Blue looked up quickly. "Oh, yes, Blue Diamond ordered I have visual translation capabilities as well as auditory. She used to indulge in the arts of other planets, and sometimes she ordered me to read to her." She shrugged a little. "She found them entertaining, but stopped around the time of the rebellion. I think it scared her." Her chest constricted as she fought back a wave of dread at speaking ill of her former Diamond. "She didn't want the others to have even the slightest reason to question her loyalty."

Yellow nodded solemnly, still surprised by the revelation. Some gems had such abilities instilled in them, but most relied solely on verbal translation. Considering that Homeworld was more interested in conquering than communicating, it was generally a redundant skill. But given Blue's position, and how long she had held it, it wasn't too strange.

"You can borrow them if you want," Steven offered, trying to lighten the mood. "There's another series I really like too— _The Spirit Morph Saga_ —but that one doesn't have pictures in it." He plopped down on the bed, some kind of larger book on his lap.

Blue placed the one she was holding back where it belonged and then leaned over curiously next to Yellow as he opened it up, revealing pages upon pages of pictures.

"Pearl helped me put together a scrapbook," he explained, "so I can keep pictures of everybody in one place. Here's my family! This is me and Dad, and here's the Crystal Gems, and here's a _new_ picture of the Crystal Gems because Dot wasn't in the old one. And this is my best friend Connie. And here's everybody who lives in Beach City!" He listed off names rapidly, pointing to each person in turn. "Garnet says I can take you out to meet them once you feel more comfortable," he concluded, grinning.

"You know a lot of people," Yellow commented, unsure what the proper response was.

"Yep, they're great!" He passed the album to Yellow and she held it gingerly with both hands, not sure what he wanted her to do with it. After a moment, Blue reached over and began turning the pages at a slower pace so that they could get a better look at the photos.

When they were finished, she handed it back to Steven and watched as he put it away and pointed out a few of the other things scattered about his room. At some point, he realized they were still standing and gestured them towards the bed.

"You can sit down," he offered.

Blue seated herself on the edge uncertainly. "It's soft," she said in surprise. "Do all the places people sit have to be soft here?"

"Well, not really," he said, bouncing a little next to her, "but it's a lot more comfortable that way."

"Strange," Yellow commented. She peered down at the blankets, running her hand over them carefully.

"You don't have that on Homeworld?"

"Not really." She traced the stitching with one finger. "Our forms don't require as much maintenance as humans seem to need. Pearls hardly sit down at all." She looked to Steven. "Why do you adhere to human traditions?"

"Huh? I'm half-human," Steven answered easily. "So I _have_ to sleep and eat and stuff."

"Oh." Yellow considered her next question carefully, not wanting to insult him. "The Red Eye recognized you as a gem. How were you formed?"

Steven laughed nervously. "Well, uh, my mom and dad made me?" He saw their confusion and quickly added, "Humans don't use Kindergartens, they have kids—small humans—and then they take care of them until the kids grow up and can take care of themselves."

"I…see." She briefly recalled Amethyst saying that humans grew after they were formed instead of coming out fully matured like gems. "So one half of that unit was human and the other half was a gem?"

"Yep! My dad's human, and my mom was Rose Quartz." He lifted up the hem of his shirt to show them his gem.

"Wh—Rose Quartz is your…your…" Yellow gestured vaguely with her hands. " _Rose Quartz?_ The leader of the rebellion Rose Quartz?"

"Uh huh." He glanced at Blue, who looked equally shocked. "Did you guys know her?"

"Only by reputation," Blue said faintly.

"Is 'Steven' an alias then? So that you can't be identified?" Yellow asked.

"No, my name's just Steven! I'm not my mom—or I _am_ my mom, but not like that."

"That doesn't make sense," she said blankly.

"I think he means he's an individual separate from his mother?" Blue offered, looking to Steven for confirmation.

"Yeah, that's right," he said, looking relieved. "I just have her gem. It's kinda confusing to me too, but that's what happened."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"I saw her a few times," Blue volunteered. "Would you like to see?"

"Yes, please!" Steven looked on wide-eyed as a projection began to play from her gem.

Blue spoke the words along in time with the image she knew so well, and they watched Rose Quartz and Pearl defeat Blue Diamond's court guards.

"They're so cool," he breathed.

Blue smiled, letting the projection play out a little further to when she saw Garnet fused for the first time.

"That brings back memories," Garnet said, leaning up to poke her head into the loft.

"Oh!" She turned in surprise. "I'm sorry, is this okay? I should have asked first…"

Garnet shook her head. "It's fine." She hoisted herself up into the room easily and picked Steven up, setting him on her lap. "The first time was a bit of a mess," she said, inclining her head towards the projection.

"But you were so cute!" Steven gushed.

"I'm still cute," she said, poking him in the nose.

He laughed in agreement as Garnet reached over and gently scattered the projection with one hand before it could continue.

"Why don't you take them down to the beach," she suggested.

"Okay!"

"What's on the beach?" Yellow asked.

"It's just the beach," Steven said with a shrug. "It's fun." He jumped down from Garnet's lap and reached under his bed, rolling a ball out from underneath. "You can play all kinds of games there. Like beach volleyball!" He turned to Yellow and Blue. "Want to try?"

Blue nodded. "How do you play?"

"Liiiike _this._ " He tossed the ball and then bumped it back up into the air. Garnet caught it one-handed just before it hit a shelf on the way down.

"Its purpose is to improve hand-eye coordination?" Yellow asked hesitantly.

"Sure," he answered. "Pearl's gonna teach you to swordfight later, right? This'll be a good warm-up!"

She looked down at her hands, curling her fingers in and out. "Okay. I appreciate the offer."

"Cool! Garnet, do you wanna play?"

"I'll pass," she replied, tossing him the ball. "Let them get used to it before we heat things up."

Steven laughed. "Okay. Come on!"

He led the three of them back downstairs and out to the beach, Garnet waiting just outside the house while Blue and Yellow followed him farther down.

Blue grimaced at the feel of the sand on her feet and hurried along, not wanting to think about it too much. "So we just have to hit the ball?" she asked.

"Yep. Put your hands like this." Steven demonstrated, and they copied the gesture. "Normally there's a net and teams and everything, but we're just playing for fun. All you've gotta do is try and pass the ball around! Don't worry about messing up."

Yellow scoffed quietly. _Don't worry about messing up._ He made everything sound so innocent. She placed her hands together like he'd shown them.

"I'll throw it to you first, okay?" He waited for an affirmative before gently tossing the ball up in an arc towards her.

Yellow's eyes tracked the ball's movements rapidly, and she swung her arms up to connect solidly with the ball when it was close. It shot straight up into the air with surprising velocity; she had assumed it was heavier.

"That's great!" Steven cheered. "But, uh, I probably should have mentioned that you don't need to hit it that hard."

The ball fell back down a few seconds later, and Yellow caught it with both hands. "I understand now. What next?"

"Well, you can try throwing it to Blue," he suggested.

"Okay." She waited for Blue to get into the right stance before throwing it—carefully—over to her.

Blue's wrists met the ball easily, and she hit it at an angle, propelling the ball back towards Yellow, who yelped as it bounced off her face.

"What was that?" Yellow demanded indignantly.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Blue hurried over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm _fine_ ," she said irritably. "I may be a Pearl, but it takes more than that to crack me."

"Sorry," she apologized again, a tiny laugh bubbling out of her mouth as Yellow scowled at her, rubbing her nose. "I'll get it next time; I wasn't sure how to aim." She looked back at Steven, who was hovering a little ways away. "I'm sorry, we haven't done something like this before."

"It's okay," he said with a smile. "That's what practice is for! Do you want to try again?"

Blue nodded gratefully, picking up the ball and handing it over, sweeping the hair out of her face.

The three of them spread out again, and Steven started the ball around the triangle again. After a few tries, they managed to keep it going in an uneven pattern, occasionally having to run a few steps back and forth to hit a stray ball.

Yellow watched the ball carefully, trying to track trajectories but eventually giving up and just reacting since none of them were particularly consistent. If nothing else, it would at least improve her reflexes, which could use some work. Standing around filing reports had never required anything of the sort and while the athleticism wasn't particularly difficult, it was something that required a degree of experience she was lacking. The slight sting of the ball hitting her skin felt good though, and she was getting the hang of it.

Between them, Blue seemed to be doing a better job of getting the ball to go where she wanted it, though she didn't have particularly fast response times either. Yellow attributed this partially to her hair, which was currently blown into a messy tangle from a combination of the wind coming off the ocean and the way she was constantly shoving it aside. Yellow had never been able to pinpoint how much it actually impeded her vision—even if it completely blinded her, Blue was far too careful a Pearl to let it show. She was plenty capable regardless of the hindrance.

After about an hour, Steven caught the ball and asked if they could take a break, so the three of them went down to the shoreline and let the edges of the ocean lap at their legs as they rested.

"There's so much of it," Blue said, reaching out like she could capture the water with her fingers.

"Yeah, most of Earth is water," Steven said.

Yellow frowned. "Why?"

"That's just how it is."

They didn't terraform their planet, Yellow realized. They probably didn't even have the requisite technology for it. The thought was strange; she'd only ever seen streamlined, productive, efficient planets in Homeworld's galaxy.

"It's pretty," Blue murmured, looking out at the horizon. "It keeps going."

Steven smiled up at her, wiggling his toes in the sand. "Yeah. I guess it's pretty different from where you live, right?"

She nodded.

"Do you like Earth so far?"

"It's incredibly alive." Blue bit her lip. "It's even more beautiful than I expected."

"And it's safe," Yellow said. "At least, as much as that's possible."

"You…weren't before?" Steven asked tentatively. "I mean, I know they're probably really mad you ran away, but—"

"They were going to shatter me," she said bluntly.

"Oh," he said faintly. "I'm…I'm sorry."

"That's how it is," Yellow replied with a shrug, scratching at one shoulder. She projected a few small images from her gem—a bitter montage of Pearls she'd seen broken or harvested over the years. She watched their faces, the fear in their eyes as they sat through rest cycles not knowing they would be gone by the next. "I'm surprised the rene— _Pearl_ managed to escape it. I doubt the Diamonds take kindly to their Pearls running around wielding swords and joining rebellions."

"Wait, Pearl was with a Diamond like you guys?"

"Of course," Yellow said. "Didn't she tell you? She belonged to White Diamond." Her gem lit up again, projecting another image, one she'd found hidden amongst old files, when the renegade had still been dressed in fancy, Pearl-like garb. White Diamond had always had a flair for the extravagant. "See?"

"Pearl," Steven said faintly, one hand reaching out involuntarily like he could pull the quiet, blank-faced Pearl away from the Diamond beside her. It was hard to reconcile the image with the Pearl he knew, who was expressive and strong and always had something to say.

"Steven," Garnet called from the door. "Time to go."

He turned quickly, then glanced back at Yellow, who had shut off the projection immediately. "We—We should go to the barn," Steven said as he got to his feet. "But I have something for you first," he added, face brightening a little. "Come on, let's go inside!"

They dusted the sand off of themselves, trailing after him apprehensively. Yellow stiffened when she made eye contact with Garnet, getting the distinct feeling she had done something wrong.

The fusion just crossed her arms and offered her an indecipherable look while Steven rushed up to his room. "Take it easy," she said in a low voice. "He needs to know, but he doesn't need you to scare him."

Yellow snapped to a rigid, respectful attention. "Yes, my—I mean, yes. I won't. My apologies."

Garnet frowned and inclined her head slightly. "You're fine." She lifted one hand and placed it on Yellow's shoulder, making sure to telegraph the movement well in advance. "Relax."

She ducked her head, ashamed of the instinctual reaction she had slipped so easily into.

Beside her, Blue was smiling encouragingly as she fixed her windswept hair back into place, not wanting it to be messy when they went to meet Pearl.

"Thank you," Yellow said finally, lifting her head.

Garnet let go, giving her a brief thumbs-up and a smile. "I've got to go. You two have fun."

They waved tentatively as she went to the warp pad, calling out a goodbye to Steven.

A moment later, Steven was hurrying back downstairs with something clutched in his hand. He approached Blue, offering it to her with an eager smile. "Here you go!"

Blue looked down at his palm, which held two small objects, vaguely triangular and made of some kind of plastic. "For me?"

"Yep! They're for your hair. Here, look." He picked one up, snapped it open, and poked it into his own curls before making it click again and stay there. It stood out, pink and sparkly against his dark hair. "You're always having to move it, so I thought you might like them. Plus it'll be dangerous if you can't see everything when you're fighting!" He removed it again and held the pair out expectantly.

Her eyes softened, delighted as she lifted the hair clips carefully from his hands, feeling pleasantly warm. "You—You noticed that?"

Steven nodded.

Blue bit her lip, clutching the small gift to her chest and trying to find the right words. "Thank you, Steven," she said shakily. "That…means a lot to me. I'll be sure to take good care of them."

"Oh, don't worry about that, they're yours to keep! And there's plenty more if you need them." Steven caught sight of her stunned expression and started to look worried. "Um, are you okay? Did you want a different color? Should I not have—"

" _Thank you!_ " Blue dropped to her knees and hugged him tightly, the gift clutched securely in one fist. She had never owned anything before, and here was this little Quartz offering her something like it was the easiest thing in the world, like it didn't matter that she was a Pearl and never even owned herself.

Steven laughed happily and squeezed her back. "You're welcome!"

She released him quickly and took a step back. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that…" she began uncertainly.

"No, no, it's okay!" he said quickly. "You can do that whenever you want."

Blue nodded, hesitant. "Okay then." She ran her fingers over the clips. "Would you…help me use them?"

"Sure," Steven agreed, taking them back and waiting for her to sit down on the sofa so he could reach more easily. She looked on in amazement as he started arranging her hair without any hesitation, carefully splitting her bangs down the middle and sweeping them to either side with his fingers. He held one side back snugly, then slid the clip in and snapped it into place, repeating the process on the other side as well. "Better?"

Blue blinked away some of the blurriness and smiled. "It's great. Thank you so much."

"No prob." He grinned up at her. "You have really pretty eyes!"

Blue blushed a little. "Thank you," she said again.

"I have some for you too," Steven offered Yellow, digging into his pocket and pulling out a few more pairs of clips. "You can pick a color you like."

"I'm fine, thank you," Yellow answered, a little confused. "I haven't had any problems with my hair."

"I know," he said brightly, "I just thought you might look cute in them!"

Revulsion rose bitter in her chest and she very nearly told him that she wasn't made for such a vapid purpose; she was made to be _useful_. She only just managed to stop herself from snapping at him, and it was mostly because up until now he had been unfailingly kind.

"You don't like them?" Steven asked. He didn't seem angry about the unintended rejection, just mildly disappointed.

She considered it for a moment, tried to separate her old way of thinking out and quiet her mind. He clearly meant it to be a genuine gift.

"It's okay if you don't," he continued. "I can get you something else."

"No," she said quickly, hand darting out in a jumpy, stilted motion. "That's not necessary. I-I'll take them. I wouldn't want to be unprepared should I require them in battle someday."

Steven giggled but picked out a silver pair and handed them to her seriously. "Here you go!"

She mimicked the motions he'd gone through with Blue, sliding it in on one side of her head and then the other. The clips stuck in her hair, not accomplishing much of anything, but the slight pull against her scalp was a strange sort of comfort. She could _own_ something here, even without a reason for it. "Like this?"

"Yeah, you look great!"

Yellow laughed involuntarily and shook her head, a crooked smile on her lips as she poked at the objects in her hair. "Thank you for the Earth gift."

"No problem." Steven tucked the extras away and then smiled back up at her. "If you want anything else, you can ask! I mean, I can't buy you anything super expensive, but between me and Dad and Amethyst, I bet we've got most everything you could think of!"

She blinked at him, surprised by the offer. "Oh. Thank you."

"You too, Blue," he added, turning to the other Pearl.

"Thanks," she replied gratefully.

"You're welcome!" He went and picked up his backpack, stuffing a few things inside. "Ready to go to the barn?"

"Sure," Yellow answered. She caught Blue's eye as they followed Steven out, hiding a smirk. A Quartz, giving them presents.

 _If anything's proof that we're light years from home, it's him._

* * *

"Steven," Pearl called, sliding out from under the pod as they entered the barn. "Come with me for a moment. Peridot, try not to antagonize our guests."

The technician mumbled something indecipherable under her breath that sounded like it could have been an agreement, crawling out from under a panel on the inside of the ship.

Pearl nodded approvingly and brushed herself off before leading Steven outside, leaving Blue and Yellow in the barn.

"Your escape pod is in better shape than I expected, considering what you put it though," Peridot said, forgoing a greeting as she jumped the small step to the ground.

 _Here we go again_ , Yellow thought bitterly. "Hello, Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG," she said.

"That designation is unnecessary here," Peridot said coldly.

"That doesn't make it any less accurate," Yellow returned in an even voice.

The smaller gem bit back a frustrated reply and went over to a toolbox, kneeling down to rifle through it. "If you're finished being _annoying_ , maybe you could provide an explanation of how that mess in there managed to keep your power supply from burning out halfway here."

"I fixed it," she said simply.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"She turned off all the unnecessary parts," Blue said helpfully.

"It's an _escape pod_ —there aren't enough unnecessary parts to 'turn off' and it isn't that simple," she said impatiently.

"I cut the atmospheric control, disabled the communications and tracking systems, got rid of most functions aside from basic flight capabilities and navigation maps, ran everything on minimal supply, and used the power sources from a number of devices we stole from the main ship to amplify the engine life."

Peridot blinked at her like she was speaking another language entirely. "W-Well," she said finally, "yes, obviously it's _possible_ to do that, but how did _you_ know how to?"

Yellow narrowed her eyes. "Pearls aren't completely dull. I've been watching Peridots run maintenance and repairs on ships for years, and I've stood around in enough control rooms to know how to handle one escape pod."

"But you couldn't have known all that just from _watching._ "

"She also handled the majority of Yellow Diamond's files," Blue added, lips curving sharply, "and you'd be surprised how much information Diamonds hand over to Pearls without thinking."

"I see," Peridot said, looking between the two of them nervously and eyeing the destabilizers still strapped to their waists. "Well, since you have the time, the process of fixing the engine would go much faster if I have a firsthand account of what was done in the first place."

The two of them exchanged a quick look, and Blue shrugged. "Go ahead," she told Yellow. "I'll just wait over there while you work; I won't be of much help."

Yellow agreed and followed Peridot back inside, reluctantly going over all the changes and repairs she'd made during the course of the trip. To her surprise, Peridot was fairly attentive and, other than a few small comments about her lack of experience, didn't seem to take too much issue with the fact that a Pearl had been the one to do it. Still, she made sure not to stay any longer than was necessary. All Peridots were the same, and she wasn't going to set herself up for another lecture on how useless Pearls were when it came to anything remotely intelligent. She had more important things to think about—namely, training under the renegade and learning how to defend herself.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Steven asked curiously as he followed Pearl out.

"Hmm?" She looked down at him, a little lost in thought. "Oh, I thought perhaps we could visit your mother's garden."

"Oh, okay. You're not hurt, are you?" he asked anxiously, peering up at her gem.

"No, I'm not," Pearl said quickly. "I just thought it would be nice."

Steven nodded uncertainly, though he looked relieved, and the two of them made their way to Rose's fountain in relative silence.

Once they arrived, Steven took off his backpack and hopped up on the edge, sensing that this was something serious and waiting for Pearl to speak first.

She hovered for a moment, and then sat beside him, hands clasped in her lap. "You're fourteen now," Pearl said softly. "I suppose that's quite a lot of time for humans, but I've never been sure what a proper age is to talk about the difficult things; you always seem so young to me. I'd rather not have to tell you at all, but I'm afraid Homeworld's shadow is still present here, now more than ever."

"Because of Blue and Yellow?"

"No," she said with a wry smile, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. "Because Earth is drawing their attention again. It was inevitable, I suppose, but…we'd hoped they would leave us in peace, at least until you were older." Pearl tilted her head to look into the ripples spreading outward in the base of the fountain. "For all Rose's efforts, it seems it was always going to be a temporary reprieve."

"But you've protected Earth for a long time," Steven said. "It might be harder this time, but we can still do it! I'm a lot better at summoning Mom's shield, and Connie's gotten _really good_ at swordfighting, and Peridot's on our side now too."

"You're right," she said, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close for a moment. "We can do it, of course we can. That's not what I need to talk to you about though." Pearl let go, turning sideways so she could face him directly. "Because of everything that's happening, you're going to run into other Homeworld gems and you need to understand about…about a number of things, really, but mostly about Pearls. About me."

"Okay," he answered seriously. "Like what?"

"Like…" Pearl took a deep breath. "Do you remember what Peridot said, back before we started building the drill?"

Steven nodded. "That there are hundreds of Pearls?"

"Yes." She hesitated. "Though that much can be said for other gems as well. I meant the other things she said about me." She fought back the flare of anger and hurt at the memory— _somebody's shiny toy_ —and continued. "Pearls are the lowest class of gems—we aren't even considered to _be_ gems for the most part. We just take orders and…stand around looking nice."

"Yeah, Yellow showed me," he said quietly.

Pearl's eyes narrowed. "She did _what?_ "

"Oh. Uh…nothing really?" Steven tried, backtracking when he realized she was upset. "I just asked about Homeworld and she told me a little bit."

"That's not her place," she said sharply.

"Please don't be mad at her! I shouldn't have asked, I'm sorry if—"

"No, no, you don't need to apologize, Steven." Pearl sighed and motioned for him to come closer. "I wanted to be the one to tell you, that's all."

"Oh." Steven moved over so he was sitting right next to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she replied with a faint smile. She brushed a little bit of sand off his shirt, not quite meeting his eyes. "How much did they tell you?"

"They said you used to…used to work for White Diamond," he answered carefully.

"Owned. I used to be owned by her," Pearl corrected him. "You can say that; it's the truth. Better to call it what it is."

Steven shook his head quickly. "People shouldn't own other people."

"Yes, but other gems own Pearls, and I am a Pearl." She hesitated. "Most Pearls aren't as lucky as I was. You understand that, right?"

He gulped, nodding. "Yellow said—I mean…she said it's bad. That they would have broken her if she didn't run away."

"That's not surprising," Pearl murmured.

"C-Can they really do that?" His eyes were wet. "Was that what it was like when you were there?"

"I'm afraid so," she answered.

"It's not _right_ ," he said forcefully.

"I know." Pearl placed an arm around his shoulders, carefully drawing him to her side again. "Rose said the same thing."

"How come—How come none of the other Pearls came with you? They would have been safe here, they could have run away too—"

"It's not that simple, Steven." She squeezed him gently. "They wouldn't know what to do once they were here, even if they could make it out safely. The stars know I didn't at first." Pearl ran her fingers through his hair fondly. "Pearls don't think for themselves on Homeworld. No, that's not quite right—they _do_ , but it's incredibly dangerous to even dream of acting on it. Everyone's too scared to do anything."

Steven sniffled as he snuggled closer to her side, arms wrapping around her waist tightly. "You were scared too. With White Diamond. You didn't look like you at all."

"Oh, Steven," she whispered, staring at the tears dripping down his face. "I'm sorry, you shouldn't have had to see that." Pearl rubbed his back lightly, then swept her hand up to his shoulder again and held on firmly.

"Did she hurt you?" he asked in a small voice.

"Not on the outside," Pearl murmured, chin tucked against the top of his head, "but all Pearls hurt, Steven."

"I wish they didn't," Steven whispered. "I want to help."

"I know," she said with a soft smile. "You already have." Pearl pulled away a little to look him in the eyes. "They're going to need some patience, alright? Give them time, and keep reminding them that they're…that they're not on Homeworld anymore. Can you do that?"

"Yeah," he replied, swiping at his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have upset you," Pearl said softly. "That wasn't my intent." She pulled a small handkerchief from her gem and handed it over. "Use this, not your hands."

Steven took it, shaking his head and scrubbing the cloth across his face. "N-No, you didn't, I'm glad you told me." He blinked back more tears as best he could. "I hope I can be as brave as you one day."

Tears welled in her own eyes, and Pearl held them back as she busily plucked the handkerchief out of Steven's hands, stored it back in her gem for cleaning later, and reached over him to get his backpack. She wasn't sure why she had been so afraid he'd see her differently after this conversation; he was always so wonderfully _Steven_ about everything. She stood up, slipping the backpack over one shoulder. "We should get back."

"Okay." He caught her hand as they started walking and kept pace with her, holding on tightly. "I love you, Pearl. I'm glad you're not on Homeworld anymore either."

"Me too, Steven," Pearl managed hoarsely, keeping an equally fierce grip on his hand. "Me too."


	5. Chapter 5

Blue watched patiently as Yellow crouched beside Peridot, trying to recover some of the information from the ship's database that had been scrambled in the transfer.

"You're wrong."

Yellow clicked her tongue irritably. "Excuse me?"

"You're doing it wrong." Peridot pulled the device out of her hands. "That won't interface with the systems; you have to recalibrate it to the correct frequency."

"I was about to do that!" she said defensively, reaching to take it back.

"No, you weren't. I'll show you how it's done."

"That's completely unnecessary."

"Your so-called 'help' is unnecessary," Peridot muttered.

"You're the one that asked for it," Yellow retorted, glaring at the shorter gem.

"Yes, and I'm regretting it immensely. I can do this part just fine on my—"

"Blue, Yellow," Pearl called, poking her head into the barn. "Are you ready to begin?"

Blue jumped up from where she was sitting, eager to get Yellow away from Peridot before their argument had a chance to escalate any further. "Yes, we are!" She rushed over to Yellow and hauled her up by the arm. "Let's go," she insisted, pulling her away. "Excuse us," she added to Peridot as they headed for the door.

"Actually, Peridot can come along too," Pearl said, hovering by the exit.

"I'm in the middle of— _fine_ ," Peridot huffed. "I'll meet you there."

"Alright." She beckoned Yellow and Blue outside and began leading the way back to the house. Steven gave them a quick greeting on his way in, staying to visit Peridot for a few minutes.

"You don't have to _drag_ me," Yellow hissed as they started walking, tugging her arm away from Blue.

"Well, I wanted to get you out of there," Blue said under her breath. "You can't pick fights with the Crystal Gems; we just arrived and they're not going to trust us if you don't try and get along with them."

"I _am_ trying. That one just thinks she knows everything."

"So do you."

" _Excuse me?_ "

"Sorry," Blue said, not looking apologetic in the least. She shrugged. "Just be civil, alright? I know she's still fresh off Homeworld compared to the rest of them, but that doesn't mean we should agitate the situation by being rude in return."

"Fine, I won't," Yellow replied, scowling. "But we don't need them to _like_ us, we just need them to _help_ us."

"I'm pretty sure those two things go hand-in-hand," she countered. "Why wouldn't you try to—"

"I'll make an effort, alright? Now can we just focus on training?" Yellow interrupted.

"Sure," Blue murmured, puzzled. She slipped a hand into Yellow's and squeezed her fingers tightly, her eyes bright with anticipation. "It's exciting."

"Yeah." Yellow looked down at their joined hands as they continued walking. She was sure her own twitchy fingers, aching to hold a weapon, were a dead giveaway that she was just as enthusiastic as Blue was.

"We're actually going to do it." Blue raised her hand like she was holding a sword, swishing it across her body a couple times dramatically. "Just like the renegade—I mean, just like Pearl. Do you think it'll be hard?"

"Well, your form isn't bad."

Blue squeaked as she realized Pearl had turned around to look at her, face ablaze in dark blue.

"I don't expect it'll be _easy_ , but I think you'll pick up the basics fairly quickly. You have excellent posture," Pearl said, hiding a smile, "though the flourishes won't really be necessary."

Yellow snickered as Blue's fingers curled into a death grip and this time she led Blue along as they started walking again. It was strange to see her become this blushing, quiet mess whenever Pearl so much as looked at her. It showed she was just as new to this as Yellow was, and something about that was reassuring, even if it was also somewhat frustrating. At the very least, it was nice to be reminded that even if Blue was noticeably more skilled at getting along with people, she still struggled with some things. Earth was new to her as well. She was daring and excited about everything they encountered—with that same quiet anticipation she'd had on Homeworld, just with a little more space to express it.

Earth was good for her, Yellow thought. Hopefully it would be good for both of them, and hopefully it would be good for the Pearls they'd left behind too.

* * *

Soon, the two of them were being led into Pearl's room in the temple, watching the moving water fall peacefully around them.

"It's beautiful," Blue said, not quite meeting Pearl's eyes, her embarrassment still fresh in her mind.

"Thank you, I designed it myself." Pearl paused, standing on her toes, directly on the surface of the water. "Have either of you summoned a weapon from your gem before?" she asked.

They both shook their heads.

"Yes, I figured that would be the case." She leapt nimbly to the top of one of the water towers and extracted a collection of swords from it. "It will take time, so for now you can learn with these." Pearl tossed one to Blue and she barely caught it, surprised by the ease with which she could hold the blade. The next went to Yellow, who swung it experimentally, fascinated. Pearl jumped back down, holding two more swords. "They're dulled, so you can't do too much damage with them unless you really try. Anyway, I'm training Peridot as well, but she'll practice alone today while I get a feel for your skill sets. Come, we'll go to the Sky Arena."

The Sky Arena was a name Blue hadn't heard in some time, but the combination of that and the two swords in Pearl's hands was enough to make her feel alive with the memories that had become an integral part of her existence.

The two of them followed Pearl back out of the temple and stepped onto the warp pad with her, arriving instantly at their destination.

"Oh, excellent, you're already here," Pearl said when she caught sight of Peridot, who was waiting along the wall near the entrance. She handed a sword over to her. "You'll be practicing with one of my holograms today while I get these two started."

"Alright," Peridot said, some reluctance in her tone as she watched Pearl's gem begin to glow, summoning a holo-Pearl.

"At least an hour of summoning practice as well," Pearl added.

"Obviously," she replied. "You don't have to remind me every time, you know."

"It's to hold you accountable."

"I'm plenty accountable on my own!"

"Yes, I'm sure you are," Pearl agreed dismissively. "Anyway, let me know if you need anything." She strode to the center of the arena, beckoning for Blue and Yellow to follow her.

"What do we do first?" Yellow asked, both hands gripping the hilt of her sword.

"First, you're going to set those aside—store them in your gems for now."

They exchanged a curious look, but did as they were told.

"We're going to begin by testing your current abilities, so I know what we're working with." She pointed to the edge of the arena. "Start there, and run to the opposite side of the arena as fast as you can. Ten times back and forth, if you would."

"Okay," Blue agreed nervously as they both headed towards the edge. She stretched her arms and legs out, readying herself.

"Whenever you're ready," Pearl called, taking a few paces back so she wouldn't be in their way.

"On three?" Yellow asked.

Blue nodded, resting one hand against a crumbling pillar. "One, two, _three._ "

The two of them took off across the arena, very nearly even with each other, though Yellow was a step ahead by the time they reached the opposite edge and turned around. Blue touched the steps as she spun around in one graceful motion, while Yellow stopped abruptly and turned on her heel, putting them on equal ground after a few paces.

Reaching their starting point was a bit jarring for both of them, as running towards an unprotected edge wasn't particularly reassuring, but they both slid to a stop, fingertips pressing briefly against the cold stone floor before they rocketed back across to the other side. The next handful of laps went by quickly, Yellow maintaining a slight lead most of the time but never more than two paces ahead.

They were returning to their original starting point, breathless and high on the rush of wind against their faces, when they skidded to a halt, Blue's eyes going wide as she went dangerously close to the edge. Yellow grabbed the back of her shirt to steady her, but she quickly regained her composure and straightened up, looking pale.

"Are you alright?" Pearl asked, already headed over.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine!" Blue said quickly, ducking her head. "I just didn't slow down enough; it was a silly mistake."

"If you're sure," she said, quick to move on in some attempt to allow the other Pearl to save face. "Regardless, that was a good start for both of you. May I make some suggestions?"

Yellow nodded quickly.

"Alright. First of all, Yellow, you have excellent form; you don't waste movement on anything superfluous, and that's going to be important when you're handling a sword. However, you could do better with the turns—Blue is a perfect example of how to use your existing momentum instead of stopping and starting. That said, Blue, you could probably use a little of Yellow's precision so that you're able to move more efficiently." Pearl smiled, clapping her hands together. "Let's move on."

"To what?" Yellow asked.

"Endurance." She pointed to the stair-step seats where the audience would once have sat. "Up and down, as many times as you can."

"We're Pearls," she countered. "We're not going to have much endurance from standing around and—"

"No excuses." Pearl crossed her arms. "I know full well what Homeworld believes Pearls capable of, and I do not need it repeated back to me for the millionth time. You can either give up on training now, or you can go and prove that you can think for yourself."

Yellow's jaw set decisively and she walked over to the bottom of the stairs, waiting for Blue to join her.

The other Pearl came up beside her a moment later, smiling as she adjusted the clips in her hair so that they were pulled back even farther. "Ready?"

"Ready."

They nodded to each other and then took off simultaneously. Running up stairs was noticeably more of a strain on their legs than the normal running had been, but they were gems and that did come with some amount of strength even if they never had cause to use it before now.

After reaching the top, Blue took the steps two at a time going down, speeding up the process.

"Yes, excellent, you're welcome to use any method," Pearl called as she reached the bottom and immediately spun to ascend once more.

She grinned and skipped steps easily as she ran back up, hands grazing a step every now and then to steady herself.

Meanwhile, Yellow was just reaching the bottom after a standard up-and-down. "There's no guidelines as long as we go up and down all the way?" she asked, pausing only for a split second.

"That's correct," Pearl replied.

Yellow smirked and took off up the stairs two at a time like Blue had, stopping at the top and propelling herself forwards and upwards as hard as she could, somersaulting mid-air and landing unsteadily on the first step. She flung her arms out to either side to balance and then stepped down briskly before starting back up to the top.

"Fancy," Blue teased as they passed one another. She hit the bottom and sprung forward, flipping herself up the stairs with her hands landing securely on the steps and the momentum carrying her feet forward. Once she reached the top, she ricocheted into backflips easily, getting to the base about the same time as Yellow.

"It's not a contest," Pearl called after them, laughing as she sat down off to the side, keeping a count of their repetitions in her head.

She watched as Blue leapt from the top step, legs extended gracefully like she was dancing, toes pointed, familiar outfit fluttering as she fell through the air and landed easily at the bottom of the steps. Meanwhile, Yellow stuck with the efficiency she seemed most comfortable with, all forward momentum and increasingly steady landings with both feet coming down hard.

They both seemed to tire after about fifty repetitions and she could see that it was much more of an effort for them to keep using that quick burst of energy to jump every time. They seemed to form an unspoken agreement around number sixty-four to stop and switch to just running up and down the stairs normally.

Their legs were starting to tremble from the exertion as they hit a hundred, but they made it to precisely one hundred fifty each. Yellow, finishing second, stumbled down the last couple of steps and into Blue's outstretched arms, completely out of breath.

"Excellent work," Pearl said kindly as they helped each other over to the lowest step to sit down. "You can rest for a few minutes."

"How many can you do?" Yellow asked, lifting her head to meet her eyes with a challenging stare.

"Right now? Likely several thousand." A proud smile stretched across her face at the look of astonishment she received. "When I started? I might have managed a hundred at a stretch. You'll get there," she added. "I plan to have both of you well prepared by the time Homeworld gets anywhere near this planet."

"Thank you so much for training us," Blue said gratefully, leaning her elbows on her knees to rest. "It's an honor."

"Oh, yes, you're welcome," Pearl said, looking aside. "I'll do the best I can. Excuse me for just a moment." She smiled politely and stood up, walking in her other student's direction. "Peridot, what have I told you about your stance?" she called as she approached.

"I don't know, I lost track after 'it's an unbalanced mess' and something about being just as bad as Amethyst!" Peridot shouted back. She ducked under the holo-Pearl's arm and thrust the sword up through its back, making it dissipate. "Ha!"

"That's not going to work if they knock you off your feet first."

"Ugh." Peridot waved the sword wildly in the air. "My stance would be fine if I didn't have to swing this thing around!"

"That's the whole _point_ ," Pearl said exasperatedly, stopping just in front of her. "And your stance is _not_ fine; you still walk like you're wearing enhancers." She nudged Peridot's foot with the flat side of her own sword.

"You keep telling me to keep my stance wide," she protested, pulling her foot away from the weapon.

"Yes, _wide_ , not sloppy." She stored her sword away smoothly. "Stand like you normally would."

Peridot did so.

"Now try and stay upright." Pearl pushed her shoulder.

"Hey!" She stumbled backwards. She braced herself for the next small push, barely managing to keep her balance. "What's your poi— _don't do that!_ " she shrieked as Pearl circled around behind her and pressed against the middle of her back. Peridot fell forward and spun around on the floor, sword clattering loudly against the stone and eyes wide.

Pearl raised her hands quickly. "Sorry." She offered Peridot a hand up, which was accepted with a small scowl. "I won't do that again without warning. My point is that when you stand like _this_ ," she said, spreading her legs and turning her feet outward to mirror Peridot, "it doesn't take much to knock you off balance. Your enhancers' weight and surface area allowed for more support, but you don't have that at the moment."

"I'm aware," Peridot said dryly.

"So, in order to fix that, you're going to have to monitor the way you move and adjust accordingly so that you can learn to do so in a more natural manner."

Peridot narrowed her eyes. "You're saying I need to learn how to _walk?_ "

"Yes, essentially."

She looked like she was trying very hard not to get worked up. "Pearl, the _unnatural_ part of this isn't my stance, it's that I don't have my enhancers. Once I manage to make some replacements—"

"Even when you make replacements, you would benefit from being able to fight both with and without your enhancers. It doesn't matter whether that's with a sword or some other weapon, but you'll need to adjust your form either way."

"I'm sick of swords," Peridot admitted.

"I can tell," Pearl said, looking amused. "Perhaps you could try out some other options with Amethyst and Garnet."

She frowned slightly, giving Pearl a puzzled look. "…You're taking the idea surprisingly well."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know, I thought you might start crying if I said I didn't like it."

"I wouldn't cry over something like that," Pearl replied indignantly.

"I'm never quite sure _what_ you'll cry over," Peridot said with a shrug. "You also punched me in the face once, and I wasn't sure what level of severity would merit a similar response."

"Seeing as you're no longer insulting me as an individual and assuming I'm worthless as anything other than decoration, I think you're safe. Punching isn't usually my go-to response."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. The crying was the bigger concern."

Pearl laughed and shook her head. "Peridot, I was well aware when we started that this wouldn't ever be your first choice of weapon. It was just meant to help you get started, and it has. You've come a long way."

The smaller gem blushed, averting her eyes. "Er…thanks."

Pearl nodded. "If you'd like to head back to the temple to work on summoning now, you're welcome to. I'll be here a while longer if you need me."

"Okay," she agreed. She bowed, and Pearl did the same before Peridot straightened up and went back out to the warp pad.

* * *

"Alright." Pearl walked back towards the center of arena, motioning for Blue and Yellow to join her. "Are you ready to try out the swords?"

They nodded, looking more refreshed than they had previously. Blue brought a hand to her gem and removed her sword carefully, Yellow doing the same.

"Excellent," Pearl said. "First, we'll begin work on your stance." She settled easily into the correct posture, her own sword raised. "This is a one-handed sword—it's light and should be fairly easy for beginners." She swept it through the air to demonstrate. "For now, don't worry about the sword itself, just focus on how to stand and move."

"Like what 5XG was doing?" Yellow asked.

"Like…oh, you mean Peridot. Yes, it's the same idea." Pearl stood up straight. "Let's give this a try," she said, moving to stand in front of them. "Stance wide, body lowered. Be light on your feet, but make sure you have a steady center of gravity."

They both moved quickly to follow her instructions.

"Yes, alright," she said, circling them. "Blue, that's too low, you won't be able to fight like that. Yellow, _lower._ You're not standing at attention, you're in the middle of a battle."

Yellow adjusted her stance, trying to force some of the rigidity out of her posture and not really succeeding. Beside her, Blue was readily fixing her stance into something more polished and poised.

"No, no, not like that." It was unclear who she was talking to, so they both turned to her. She approached Yellow. "Blue, you can stand down for a moment. May I?" she asked, extending one hand.

Yellow nodded, letting Pearl guide her carefully into the right stance.

"Bring your legs more—yes. And your arms need to be _here_ , not so close to your sides. Sword _out_ , not straight up. Loosen your wrists a little; you need mobility. Face front. Eyes up. Yes. Good." Pearl stepped back, nodding in approval, and circled around to the front. "Try to parry my sword as best you can. I won't aim to cause any damage; we're just getting you used to the movement."

"Alright," Yellow agreed, readying herself.

The first blow glanced off the edge of her sword and she had to twist her arms just to get that much. The second drove her back, and she stumbled over the unusual placement of her own feet.

"Again," Pearl declared, giving her only a few seconds to adjust her stance before coming at her again. "Don't overthink it, you won't have time to anticipate everything. _Move._ Yes, that's better. Remember, efficient movement, you don't need to swing your arms so much. Don't stop it short though, follow through. Yes, good." Pearl aimed one last strike towards Yellow's chest, and her arm snapped up quickly in defense, sword getting a little too close to her own face but blocking Pearl's with a small _clang._ "Excellent. Blue, your turn."

Blue quickly settled back into the proper stance, sword aloft.

"That's very nearly right," Pearl said approvingly, waiting for Blue's small nod of assent before taking her arm. "Hold it here; you can put more strength behind it that way. Good." She drew her sword again. "Ready?"

"Yes." She prepared herself for the first strike, but was still taken aback when it clanged off her sword harmlessly. Determined to do better with the next one, she readied herself again, moving back and forth as Pearl had demonstrated.

"Oh, yes, you've got it." She looked pleasantly surprised when Blue managed to block the next one with a steady hand. "Put some more strength behind it. Yes. Yes. Don't let your wrists bend so much, you'll end up breaking something. That's better. One more. Good."

Blue dropped her stance, a pleasant ache in her arms from wielding the sword.

"We have quite a lot of work to do, but that's a good start. Let's practice without the swords for the rest of the afternoon; you need to build stamina and better your reaction time."

Pearl set them to something she called "drills", which generally consisted of things like the stair-stepping that looked easy but weren't, especially when instructed to do them for a full hour apiece. Blue had never felt so tired by the end of it, unused to all the constant movement. Yellow fared no better, and both were relieved when Pearl declared it was time to stop.

"You both show real promise," Pearl said proudly, waving them towards the steps to sit down and joining them this time. "You'll progress quickly. Blue, your form was nearly perfect earlier; I was surprised."

"Oh," Blue said, laughing awkwardly. "I, um, learned from the best? I was just copying what you did." She tapped her gem lightly. "I've watched it thousands of times and it stuck, even though I couldn't really practice it myself."

"Ah." Pearl stared down at her hands for a moment. "Well, it was quite remarkable regardless," she said in a rush. "Yellow, you caught on fairly quickly as well."

"Thanks," she said flatly.

"May I make some suggestions?"

"Please," Blue said eagerly. "We want to learn everything we can from you."

Pearl nodded. "In all honesty, I would suggest practicing techniques aside from swordsmanship as a sort of supplement to these lessons. It will help you develop a more rounded skill set."

"But if we want to master a sword, we should spend the majority of our time on that," Yellow countered, brow creasing.

"No. Hear me out," she said, holding up a hand before Yellow could say anything else. "Pearls are attracted to structure—that's just a part of how we're made—and later that's going to be an asset, but right now it's an obstacle. You need to find your individual strengths, and to do that you'll need to try out various techniques until you find one that suits you."

"But if this technique is the one we want to learn…" Blue began.

"You don't know that yet," Pearl said quickly. "I realize that idea seems the most _familiar_ to you, but you can't copy someone else's technique and expect it to work the same for you."

She gulped, nodding. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have presumed…"

"It's fine," she said briskly. "It may well be that a sword would suit you best, but I don't want you to think that's the only option." She gave Blue a small smile. "Try a few others just in case, alright?"

"I will," Blue agreed, looking relieved.

"Me too," Yellow echoed. "You make a good point. Will you be showing us any of these alternate techniques?"

"A few, perhaps. I've tried my hand at a number of things over the years," Pearl said, "but I'd also recommend going to Garnet and Amethyst. They specialize in areas I don't, and they can give some solid pointers to help you improve in general."

"They wouldn't mind?" Yellow asked, surprised.

"Certainly not," she replied. "They volunteered their help before I even thought to bring it up. You're welcome to train with any of us, whenever you please—given that there are no extenuating circumstances." She smiled encouragingly. "If you're comfortable with the idea, you're free to ask anyone. Steven would be overjoyed to help you too, though he does tend toward somewhat strange human methods of training."

"That sounds great," Blue said. "Thank you so much."

"Thank you," Yellow added, dipping her head slightly.

"You're welcome." Pearl stood up, offering each of them a hand up. "Shall we head back to the temple?"

Blue nodded, her fingers twitching with nervousness and exhaustion as Pearl pulled her to her feet. It was so much, and so wonderful.

 _Earth. Pearl. Fighting._

She wasn't sure how she'd gotten so lucky as to live to see this day but she'd make the most of it, for everyone's sake.


	6. Chapter 6

Training was going well, for the most part. They'd been at it for nearly two weeks now and they were still coming back exhausted, but they were able to do much more than when they started. Pearl pushed them hard, spending approximately six hours a day helping them practice. However, for all the time they spent together, she still seemed to keep her distance from the other Pearls.

Blue would be lying if she didn't admit she was a little disappointed, but then again she knew she couldn't expect Pearl—amazing, renegade, Crystal Gem Pearl—to warm to them so quickly. They'd just shown up on her doorstep asking for assistance in an incredibly dangerous rebellion; she'd be more concerned if Pearl had instantly jumped at the idea.

But she _did_ want to get to know Pearl, get to know this gem she'd admired from afar and told stories about again and again. She wanted Pearl to get to know her too, as terrifying as that idea was since she barely claimed any identity aside from being the unusual Pearl that used to spread quiet rebellion under the Diamonds' noses. Away from Homeworld, she wasn't really sure who she was or what she wanted, because she'd never had those options before.

Blue liked training though. It was tough, and it made _her_ tough, and she had always wanted to prove that she could be. She had always wanted to be more than a trinket for a better gem.

With a practice sword in her hands, with her whole body aching from the strain of a long day, she felt alive. She felt real. She felt like she could be someone important, like she could actually stand beside Pearl one day and fight with her.

Blue pushed herself hard, maybe harder than she should have, but she had to. She wasn't as strong physically as Pearl was—or Yellow, for that matter—so if she wanted to stand a chance, she needed to keep improving. It was hard, but it was worth it, worth every scrape and bruise and one particularly close call when she got knocked off balance and nearly managed to fall directly on her gem, only just managing to get her arm under herself in time to cushion the blow. She kept on standing up, shaking off each bit of damage added to the collection, and pushing forward with everything she had.

"That will do for today," Pearl declared as Blue and Yellow finished sparring. "Blue, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course," she replied, trying to catch her breath. "What is it?"

"This seems like an odd question, but…do you have some kind of vision impairment?" Pearl asked carefully.

Blue froze. It took a moment for the words to fully process, but when they did her cheeks colored and she dipped her head to hide her embarrassment. She hadn't expected Pearl to notice—but of course she had. "I'm okay," she said quickly.

Pearl hesitated, looking like she wanted to argue the point. "It's just that you appear to have some trouble with seeing things that aren't immediately in front of you, and your depth perception occasionally seems off as well."

"Not really," she answered unconvincingly, averting her eyes. "I mean, a little bit. But I'm used to it! It won't be a problem in combat, I swear."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Pearl said quickly. "I only wanted to check. We can find some workarounds for it," she added. "I'm just rather surprised, that's all. You must have been quite adept to hide that from Blue Diamond since the beginning."

"Since… Oh, no, I haven't always been like this."

"What?" Pearl tilted her head in confusion. "It _is_ a natural flaw in your gem, isn't it?"

"No, it's been a gradual change. I think it's just because I'm an older Pearl," Blue said quickly. "It's nothing to worry about."

She frowned, eyes moving to Yellow, who also looked a little unnerved.

"I thought it was just because of your hair," she said uncertainly.

"Well, my hair certainly didn't help," she laughed, wishing they would change the subject already.

"That's not normal," Yellow said. She turned to Pearl sharply. "That's not normal, is it? I mean, I haven't even made it to a thousand, but…"

"It isn't," Pearl confirmed. "I'm probably at least a couple thousand older than Blue—you were fairly new during the revolution, weren't you?"

"I was…a little over a thousand years old when I first saw you, I think."

"Right. And I've never known that sort of thing to happen to any gem, Pearl or otherwise."

Blue's shoulders hunched in. "Oh. Um. It really isn't a problem… I'll work twice as hard if I need to; I'm not going to let something that trivial get in the way of upholding your legacy."

"My what?" Pearl looked mildly alarmed. "I don't—There is no _legacy._ I fought for the things I believed in, that's all."

"Exactly," Blue said earnestly. "You're a legend."

"Only because _you_ made me one," Pearl argued. "I'm doing my best, but if you think I'm some faultless champion, you're looking at the wrong gem. The only legacy I claim to uphold is Rose Quartz's doctrine, and that was something we created _together_ ; it wasn't just me."

She nodded, lowering her eyes. "I don't think that lessens your importance though… I was just trying to say that I won't let you down."

"You're..." Pearl stopped and shook her head. "Okay. Tell Yellow or me if it gets any worse," she added firmly. "Don't get too reckless." She cleared her throat. "I should go. I'll see you both later."

Pearl slipped away to the warp pad, leaving the two of them alone. It had become their habit to stick around a while longer after their practice was over, either sitting down at the edge of the arena or warping back and walking over to the spot where they had first landed to rest. They both looked forward to the quiet, peaceful moments they could indulge in together without any fear of trouble.

Blue glanced over her shoulder worriedly as they sat down. "Did I say something wrong?"

Yellow shrugged. "I don't know."

"Sometimes it seems like she avoids me…" Blue bit her lower lip roughly, grip tight on Yellow's hand.

"Well, she's an idiot then," she said.

"She is not!" she retorted defensively.

"I was trying to be sympathetic!"

"Well, _you're not._ " Blue glared at her. "You know how much she means to me."

"Yeah," Yellow agreed sharply. "The whole universe is aware of how great you think Pearl is."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, eyes narrowing.

"That you act like you belong to her!"

Blue yanked her hand away. "I do not—"

"You definitely don't act like _yourself_ , anyway." Yellow glared at her. "Stars forbid you not be perfect when she's around."

Her face flushed a humiliated, deep blue. "I-I wasn't…"

"Then what is it you think you're doing?" she demanded. "You were so exhausted yesterday that your form was barely holding together—don't think I didn't notice. Pearl isn't going to like you more just because you run yourself ragged."

Blue flinched. "I want to show her I'm strong. That I'm learning."

"You can do that without hurting yourself!"

"You've gotten hurt too," she argued, taking Yellow's hands and tapping the damaged skin on her palms lightly.

"That's different," Yellow snapped. "That's _normal._ All you're doing is putting on some gem-forsaken show just for the sake of your pride."

"It's not pride!"

"Well, you'd better figure out what it is, then," she said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Because you're an ornamental Pearl pretending to be a Quartz and that's not going to get you anywhere."

Blue's eyes darkened dangerously. "You don't get to judge me," she said in a low voice. "You don't get to pretend you're better than me just because you got to be Yellow Diamond's personal secretary and all I did was run menial errands and stand around looking pretty. We are _both_ Pearls."

Her face screwed up in frustration. "Blue, I wasn't—"

"Yes, you were. You always have. But you _are not_ better than me, or any of the other Pearls you always looked down on. If anything, you're worse, because most of us at least had the dignity to respect _each other_ when other gems didn't."

Yellow flinched, averting her eyes. "Fine. But don't come running to me when Pearl gets tired of your pathetic attempts to impress her." She slid her sword into her gem so quickly she seemed in danger of stabbing herself. "I'm leaving."

* * *

Yellow felt like her whole body had locked up as she walked out to the warp pad and arrived back at the house. She'd never seen Blue angry like that—she'd never _made_ Blue angry like that—and she hated it. Mostly because Blue was right; derision and scorn had been her lifelines back on Homeworld. She'd never done anything for her fellow Pearls, so maybe she really didn't have a right to talk. But she didn't like what Blue was doing and she wasn't just going to stand by and keep her mouth shut while her only friend ran herself into the ground.

She stepped down from the warp pad and was immediately met by Steven, who had a big smile on his face as he welcomed her back.

"Hi! How was training?"

"Hello," Yellow said in a small voice. "Training was fine."

Steven blinked up at her. "Hug?" he offered.

She nodded, still rather overwhelmed by the affection Steven so freely gave to everyone, even two Pearls he barely knew. She knelt down on one knee and gave him a quick hug, arms stiff.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, watching as she pulled away and stood up. "You usually say no."

It was true, but she hadn't really had the heart to refuse the offer today. She needed some form of reassurance that she wasn't just a terrible person, and Steven had never judged her for being a Pearl or for anything else. "I'm fine," she replied. "It was a long day."

He nodded. "Where's Blue?"

"Staying late again."

"Oh." Steven eyed the warp pad, concern evident. "Okay. Come over here for a sec, I want you to meet my dad!" He tugged her towards the kitchen, and she realized there was a human there in addition to Pearl, who was putting away groceries. He was easily recognizable from the photos Steven had shown them, though he was shorter than she'd expected, approximately her own height and nowhere near a Quartz's. "Yellow, this is Dad. Dad, this is Yellow!"

"Hey there," he said with a friendly smile. "You can call me Greg."

"Hey," she echoed crisply, dipping into a quick bow. "Nice to meet you, Greg."

"You too," Greg said, laughing nervously. "You don't have to bow though, I'm just a regular guy."

"You're important to Steven's existence and Rose Quartz clearly thought quite highly of you. It only seemed proper."

"Bowing has gone out of fashion for humans in this country," Pearl said helpfully, stacking several small containers and placing them in the fridge. "Shaking hands would be more appropriate for meeting someone, I believe."

"I see." Yellow lifted her hands, palms up. "What do I do exactly?"

"Here, just your right one," Greg offered, stepping forward and holding out his own.

She offered her right hand, watching intently as he took it.

"There you go, just like that." He shook it with a gentle but firm grip, and she tried to return the gesture. "Ow, careful, you gotta go easy on us humans," he laughed, shaking his hand out when she let go.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were so flimsy," she said dismissively, opening and closing her fist. "I'm just a Pearl; Rose Quartz must have had to be _extremely_ careful with you."

Pearl let out a snort of laughter, which she quickly turned into a cough as she beckoned Steven over to help unpack the groceries.

Yellow glanced at her, and then back to Greg, who looked like he didn't know whether he should be offended or not. "Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you. This gesture can be used for anyone?" she asked, just to clarify.

"Pretty much," he said. "So," he continued awkwardly when she continued to stare at him, "Steven said your name is Yellow?"

"It's not my name; it's a designation to distinguish me from the other Pearls here."

"Oh, yeah, it would be a little confusing to have three Pearls running around. How does that work on Homeworld?"

"There's no need for it on Homeworld," Yellow said flatly, lifting her chin. "Gems don't really _talk_ to Pearls, they just give orders. The Pearl being addressed is usually the one they own."

"But we're going to have to come up with names for everybody when we go to Homeworld," Steven interjected, "or it really _will_ be confusing."

"Go to Homeworld?" Greg asked in alarm. "Nobody mentioned you were going to Homeworld."

"Well, it would be somewhat impractical to stage a rebellion from another galaxy," Yellow said.

"A—wait a second, somebody needs to fill me in here. Pearl—wait, are we still calling you Pearl?" he asked.

"Greg, we have known each other for nearly two decades. If I wanted to be called something _besides_ Pearl, even you would have caught wind of it by now. Pass those bags over here, please."

Greg gathered up the empty plastic bags scattered across the counter and handed them to Pearl, who began folding them neatly into flat squares for storage. "Okay, regular Pearl. Since when are the Crystal Gems interested in going back to Homeworld?"

Pearl gave him a long-suffering look. "We aren't. We formed a mutually beneficial agreement with Yellow and Blue to assist them in return for information and a couple extra pairs of hands in defending your planet. We _may or may not_ go to Homeworld, but if we do, Steven will be staying here."

"What?" Steven complained. "You can't leave me here, I want to help!"

"I know that, Steven, but—"

The warp pad activated and Blue walked in, sparing a brief, awkward smile when she saw everyone looking at her. "Hello. Sorry to interrupt."

"Don't worry about it," Pearl said with a small sigh. "Blue, this is Greg."

"Oh, from the pictures! You're Steven's…dad human? Human dad?"

"Either way," he said easily. "And you're the third addition to the Pearl family?"

"Um, yes?" She laughed uncertainly. "You can call me Blue. Nice to meet you."

"Same here. Pearl was just telling me you two are part of a rebellion or something?"

"We're the beginning of one," Blue said brightly, tucking a stray piece of hair back in place. "That's why we came to Earth, so Pearl could teach us."

"Oh yeah? Didn't know she was famous."

"I think the proper term would be _in_ famous," Pearl corrected, not pausing in her task. "The Crystal Gems are rebels, after all."

"Hey, that's still pretty impressive. It's been a long time since you guys left Homeworld." He cleared his throat. "Speaking of Homeworld…you're seriously going back?" he asked Blue.

"There are hundreds of other Pearls that haven't escaped," Yellow said before Blue could answer. "We can't just run away and forget about it." She shot a cutting look towards Pearl, who looked up with narrowed eyes.

"If it's within our power to change their circumstances," Blue said, glaring at Yellow, "we want to do everything we can. We're learning from the best."

"Yes, I suppose it's a good thing that some Pearls around here know their limits."

"To know your limits, you have to actually test them."

"Oh, so being willing to crack yourself in two to impress a gem you barely know is just testing your limits."

Blue bristled with anger. "At least _I_ make an effort for someone besides myself."

"That's enough," Pearl said sharply. "Whatever your problem is, I'd appreciate it if you two would refrain from bickering in front of Steven."

Yellow, who had been gearing up for another biting remark, snapped her mouth shut, catching sight of Steven's concerned expression. "Sorry."

Blue adamantly refused to look at her, attention fixed on Pearl. "My apologies. Would you like some help with that?" she offered, reaching for the bags.

"No, I think I can handle this on my own," Pearl said quickly, snatching her hands back a little too quickly.

Blue faltered a little, but forced a smile. "Alright. I'm going to…go for a run, I suppose." She bowed slightly and headed for the door. "It was nice to meet you, Greg. Excuse me."

"Yeah, same here," he said weakly as she left. "Are you guys alright?" he asked the other two.

"Fine," Yellow muttered, scratching lightly at her left shoulder.

"Yes," Pearl said briskly. She finished putting things away and closed the cupboard decisively, shouting "Amethyst!"

The door to the temple slid open a few seconds later. "Yeah?" Amethyst asked.

"What have I told you about putting all of this junk in the kitchen?"

"Hey, you told me I had to put it away, so I did."

"Yes, but you can't keep things like engine oil here—it doesn't belong in the kitchen! What if Steven eats it by accident?"

"Uh, I don't think that's gonna happen," Steven said.

"You can never be too careful!"

"Okay, okay, geez." Amethyst gathered the offending items into her arms and dumped them into her room. "Was that it?"

"Yes," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Would you mind going over to the barn with Steven and Yellow for a little while? I need to go to town and pick up a few things."

"Sure thing, I love Pearl duty."

"Pearl duty?" Yellow asked, wrinkling her nose. "Is that what we're calling this strange form of supervision we're being kept under?"

"Yep," Amethyst said cheerfully. "Let's go, prisoner. You coming, Steven?"

"Yeah! Bye, Dad! See you later!"

"Later, kiddo!"

"I am _not_ a prisoner _,_ " Yellow said under her breath.

"Nah, but you're fun to tease," Amethyst replied, leading the way to the door. "See ya, P."

"See you," Pearl called after them. Once they had left, she cleared up the last few things on the counter and turned to Greg. "You're taking this remarkably well," she said.

"Well, I'm kinda used to Amethyst's weird taste in food by now."

"I meant the rebellion," she said pointedly. "How much did Rose tell you about Pearls?"

"Enough to know you had it pretty rough on Homeworld," Greg answered with a shrug, growing serious. "Not much detail—wasn't my business, and she didn't want to go telling me your life story without asking."

Something in Pearl's eyes softened. "I see." She looked over to Rose's portrait on the wall. "I wouldn't have minded."

Greg gave her a skeptical look.

"Really," she insisted. "Well, I might have minded back then, but it's hardly a secret what Pearls are made for."

"Steven knows?"

"As of about two months ago, yes. We've had a proper talk about it more recently." She sat down, motioning for Greg to do the same. "I won't let any harm come to him."

"Yeah, I know," he said with a small smile. "I just worry about him sometimes."

"Yes." Pearl laced her fingers together. "That said, I do feel I have a duty to assist in this rebellion. Should that mean we go off-planet, we'll be leaving Steven in your care."

"Pearl…"

"What?"

"Look, I try to stay out of this stuff since I'm never going to understand everything, and I'm all for keeping Steven safe, but he's growing up. He wants to protect you guys just as much as you want to protect him. I'm not saying you _should_ take him with you, but…you guys are part of this family too, and Rose's shield has saved your life at least once already."

Pearl laughed a little. " _Many_ more times than that." She hesitated. "While I disagree, we have more pressing matters to deal with at the moment, so I don't think it's worth having this discussion right now."

"What's more pressing?"

"Another probable Homeworld invasion," she replied, standing up and pushing her chair in neatly. "Now, if you don't mind, may I have some money to buy a new microwave for Steven?"

"Uh, sure. What happened to the old one?"

"We stripped it for parts."

" _Again?_ "

"You'd be surprised how many of the silly inventions humans make to be lazy end up being incredibly useful."

"Are you trying to distract me from the impending alien invasion by insulting my species?"

"No, your species usually manages to distract itself from dreadful phenomena just fine without my help."

Greg sighed and handed over a few twenties from his wallet. "You have a point there. Try to make it last a _little_ bit longer this time?"

"I will, thank you." She made for the door.

"Hey, Pearl?"

"Yes, Greg?" she asked, mildly exasperated as she turned back around.

"I'm glad you're here."

Pearl paused, long fingers curling around the bills in her hand. "I suppose I could say the same about you."

"For the cash?" he joked.

"Partially," she returned lightly, sticking it into her gem for safekeeping and letting her eyes drift to Rose's portrait again. "Goodbye, Greg," she said, slipping out the door.

"Bye, Pearl," he called with a small smile.


	7. Chapter 7

Blue's uneasiness grew steadily as the days passed. It was bad enough that she was barely talking to Yellow, but Pearl had been noticeably avoiding her as of late too, making flimsy excuses to escape any attempt at conversation. Without either of them, she gravitated towards Garnet and Amethyst, who had agreed to help her with some additional training. Amethyst, despite the instinctual reaction Blue still felt when addressed by a Quartz, was comfortable to talk to or, more often, just to listen to. Garnet, meanwhile, gave Blue more space to talk or to think without being alone, and she appreciated that too.

She alternated her training—Pearl's lessons in the morning and hand-to-hand combat with Garnet, Amethyst, or both in the afternoon. It wore her out, but being tired was better than giving herself time to dwell on the fact that she was little more than a burden to the Pearl she'd always looked up to.

It had only been about five days since her initial disagreement with Yellow and a few weeks since they'd arrived, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could do this. It wasn't anything like she'd hoped for all those years and here, lying on her back, breathless from being knocked to the ground, Blue felt like she wanted to cry. She didn't want to fail the Pearls she'd left behind or the broken ones she kept close. But even the renegade didn't think she had a chance of succeeding in her quietly-brewed rebellion, did she?

 _Just a Pearl_ hadn't felt quite so real in millennia.

"Let's take a break," Garnet said, helping Blue up from the ground.

She found herself on her feet without even registering that she was moving. "I can keep going," Blue said immediately. "It's still early."

"You look like you're about to poof," Amethyst countered. "Was I too rough?"

"No," she answered quickly. "I'm okay, really. I need to get stronger."

"You also need to _chill_." The Quartz took her by the shoulders and sat her down in the grass. "Take a day off or something. At least try to take a nap."

"I'm not sure how," Blue said. "And I don't need to rest, I need to train."

"Resting is part of training," Garnet said firmly as she joined them.

Blue didn't want to outright tell her she was wrong, so she stared down at her dirtied legs, drawing them in and poking her toes into the grass.

"You're doing great," Garnet said encouragingly.

"…I don't feel like I'm doing great," she murmured. "I feel like I should have just stayed on Homeworld."

"What? No!" Amethyst exclaimed. "You don't seriously want to go back to that, do you?"

"N-No, I don't," Blue whispered, eyes locked on her knees. "I'm just…not cut out for this. Even Pearl thinks so."

"That's not true! You've gotten _way_ better already!"

"And Pearl doesn't think that," Garnet added. "You two need to talk."

"I'm pretty sure she's avoiding me," Blue said in a small voice, forcing a smile.

"I know."

Somehow, it stung more to have it confirmed. "…Why? Did I do something?"

Garnet lifted her hand and tilted it back and forth in a so-so motion. "She's just overwhelmed."

"By me?"

"By the way you treat her."

Blue sighed, dropping her head to her knees. "So Yellow was right, then." She closed her eyes. "What should I do?"

Garnet placed a hand lightly on her shoulder. "You want some advice?"

"Please."

"You don't need to try so hard."

"Yeah, you don't have to impress her," Amethyst said with a shrug. "Pearl is _Pearl._ As long as you don't do anything crazy, I think it would be pretty hard for you to get on her bad side. She's only freaking out cuz you're…well, you're kinda treating her like she's not a real gem."

"What?" She jerked her head up. "That's not—"

"You're putting her on a pedestal," Garnet said in a calming voice. "Respect is one thing, but you're never going to be able to communicate if you're always holding her to such a high standard. She feels like she can't be _herself_ , only your vision of her."

Blue's breath stuttered, and she nodded quickly. "Oh," she mumbled. "That…makes sense. I guess I wouldn't like that very much either." She lifted her head a little to look at Garnet, the question in her eyes answered before she could voice it.

"Walk out that way and you'll find her," Garnet said with a smile, pointing.

"Thank you," she said gratefully, getting to her feet. "I'll—I'll make things right."

"I know."

* * *

"Pearl?" Blue asked hesitantly from a few yards away.

Pearl, seated beside a tree stump surrounded by green grass and tiny flowers, looked up and saw her. "Oh, Blue, I didn't expect you."

"Sorry. Garnet said you'd be here." She took a few small steps forward. "May I join you?"

Pearl nodded, smiling politely as she patted the space beside her.

"Thank you." Blue walked over, settling down about a foot away for her own comfort. "Um, it's a beautiful view."

"Rose always loved it," she agreed with a small, wistful smile. She touched the tree trunk lightly. "Is there something I can do for you?"

She tugged nervously on the trim of her shirt, briefly remembering her old skirt and how it never used to feel quite this unnatural to fidget with it. "I wanted to talk…"

Pearl nodded, waiting.

"I wanted to apologize," she corrected herself, unable to make eye contact. "I think I've been making you uncomfortable, and I'm sorry."

"What? No—well, I mean, you have, but—" Pearl floundered a bit, hands making nervous gestures in the air.

Blue risked a small glance at her and then curled in on herself, arms locking tightly around her legs. "I'm sorry," she said again.

"You really don't have to—"

"I've looked up to you for practically my entire life. I've told stories about you for thousands of years. I spent every single day trying to have even an ounce of your courage." Her vision was even blurrier than usual, and she forced away the tears she didn't want. She wanted to get through this without embarrassing herself any further. "I can't even believe I was really lucky enough to meet you. That I'm _here,_ that you're _real_."

"That's a good thing?" Pearl asked in a subdued voice. "That I'm not just a story?"

"What?" She looked up in shock. "Of course it is, you're so much _more_ , you're—you're alive, and you're great, more than I expected even." Blue stopped herself, looking conflicted. "And I'm making you uncomfortable again." She bit her lip.

"Blue—"

Words spilled from her mouth in some vague, urgent attempt at an explanation. "I'm not saying I think you're perfect, and I'm not saying you need to be, I just—I've been trying _so hard_ to be like you. And I know I haven't been myself, like she said—I don't know how to talk to you and I overdo things in training… I was just so scared that I wasn't enough." She laughed weakly, eyes burning. "But it's just making everything worse, Yellow hasn't spoken to me in _days_ and I was awful to her and I was awful to you without even realizing and it's miserable. I don't know what to do anymore and I keep messing things up…" She covered her face with her hands, stifling a sob. "I don't want you to hate me. Please don't hate me."

"Oh," Pearl said softly, moving closer. "Please don't think that." Her hand fell lightly on Blue's back. "I don't hate you. Of course I don't hate you."

Her whole body trembled with her crying and she wanted it to stop, didn't want to fall apart in front of Pearl.

"I don't," she repeated, and her arms slowly found their way around Blue, hand tangling gently in her hair and bringing the crying Pearl to rest just next to the star on her chest, chin tucked on top of her head. "I'm sorry if it felt that way. I just—I'm not used to people looking up to me, not like that."

"I'm sorry," Blue sobbed. "I'm so sorry, you shouldn't have to deal with all this, I should go—"

"It's alright." Pearl held her tightly. "Stay." There was something motherly in her voice, a similar tone to what she used with Steven, and Blue would have laughed if she were able to through the tears.

Her hands found their way to Pearl's sash, and she tangled her fingers in it securely, trying to ground herself.

And Pearl, awkwardly steady and soothing, let her cry, thousands of years of _something_ that had been bottled up inside of her spilling out.

"I'm so proud of you," Pearl whispered against her hair. "You've done so much. Please don't ever be ashamed of it, or of this."

Blue gasped raggedly against her and her fingers tightened. "Th-Thank you," she whispered brokenly. "I…" She couldn't find the words, but Pearl waited patiently, still holding her close. "I spent so many years just…passing a message along, and I thought that would be my whole life. And I was so, so happy that it _wasn't_ , that I actually got to meet you in person." Blue shrank in on herself. "And I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Blue," she said kindly, making her lift her head, "you are one of the bravest gems I have ever met. And I'm honored to have been a part of your story, but _you_ are the one who made it here, who decided to lead a rebellion. I would love to be a part of that with you, as a friend and as a Crystal Gem, but you don't need my approval. You made your own way, and you should be proud of that."

She stared back at Pearl with wide eyes, warmth flooding to her face. "Really?" she stammered.

"Really."

Blue shuddered, and something on her shoulders seemed to lift. She let go of Pearl and swiped the tears off her cheeks. "Thank you," she murmured. "I think I needed that."

Pearl smiled and reached out to smooth down her mussed hair, fixing it and sliding the clip back into place. "You're welcome."

"C-Can we start over then? As friends?"

"Of course."

Blue gave her a small, tentative smile. "Okay."

Pearl returned it, then hugged her once more, briefly. "You're really not the disaster you made yourself out to be. After being treated like an object for thousands of years, you're entitled to a few mistakes."

"Thanks," she said gratefully.

"Alright," Pearl said, redirecting the conversation inelegantly. "Since we've gotten all that out of the way, why don't we take a walk? That always helps me clear my head."

"That sounds great." She stood up, dusting off her legs.

Pearl looked relieved. "Wonderful. There's a nice path over here." She led Blue over to the fields and trees to their left.

"I guess I have one apology out of the way at least," Blue sighed as they began walking, rubbing at her eyes.

"Yellow?" Pearl asked knowingly.

She nodded wearily. "I said some things I shouldn't have, though she did too."

"About this?"

"Mostly." She brushed the tips of her fingers over her gem, and then shook her head to dismiss her thoughts. "So you do this often?" she asked.

"Take walks?" Pearl smiled. "When time allows. Rose and I liked to explore together, before, so it helps me feel close to her. The others come along sometimes too."

"I was never sure," she began hesitantly, "whether you two were…equals? I only saw you the once, and the reports lacked any details that were deemed irrelevant."

"We were," she replied. "Or we tried to be, amongst all of Homeworld's stigma against such things. It got easier with time."

"Does it?" Blue mused to herself.

Pearl didn't respond, just kept her steps even with Blue's.

"I got used to being alone," she said quietly. "Because I was supposed to be, and because it was safer for everyone that way."

"I thought you and Yellow—"

"We're little more than strangers," she said, a note of bitter sadness in her voice. "She used to be scared of me. Probably still is, actually." Her throat felt tight. "But she's the first Pearl to…to dream with me. She's not perfect by any means, but she makes me feel like…I don't know, she just _believed_ in me, in what I did, and she thought it mattered. The other Pearls listened, but she talked _back._ She didn't leave."

"I don't think that sounds like 'strangers'," Pearl said softly when she was sure Blue had finished speaking.

"Maybe not." Blue tilted her head back to look at the sky. "I don't know what to call it." She turned her head slightly towards Pearl. "What did you call Rose Quartz?"

"I'm not sure we ever found a label that fit," she replied. "Not on Homeworld or on Earth. Rose always insisted relationships shouldn't be categorized—they're organic, they grow and develop over time." Pearl shrugged sheepishly. "I wasn't always satisfied with that, but I didn't know how to name it either. She was just 'Rose'. That in itself was amazing enough."

"Oh. I…I like that. The not-categorizing part. I'm sick of being categorized."

"It does get to be rather tiring at times."

She glanced sideways, flashing a tentative smile. "I stood next to Blue Diamond for centuries and I swear the hardest thing I've ever done is keep from laughing when she praised me for being _the_ most well-behaved Pearl on the planet."

Pearl smiled. "You must have played your part very well."

"I had to," she replied flatly, rolling her eyes. "Stars, I hated her. Gem-forsaken fool."

A small snicker escaped Pearl's mouth.

"What?" Blue asked, flustered.

"You're different when you're not trying to flatter me. Please, speak freely," she added when Blue opened her mouth to apologize. "It's refreshing, being around other Pearls after so long."

"If you want someone to insult the Diamonds with, Yellow's more creative than me. She's just a bit skittish; she's still new to the idea."

"She's rather remarkable, going to such lengths for something she just learned of."

"Yeah," Blue said with a faint smile. "She is. I should…I should talk to her. That's what's best, isn't it?"

"Probably."

"I will, then." She touched her gem lightly. "You're right, she isn't a stranger. I shouldn't have said that. She's important to me."

Pearl nodded, letting Blue take the lead for a little while. The other Pearl darted forward sporadically, attention caught by one thing or another, with a sort of wonder she had long since outgrown but remembered fondly.

Blue couldn't quite place everything Earth made her feel, but she knew she liked it. Things were alive here, and so was she, however difficult it could be. Mistakes didn't get you shattered, you could speak your mind, and it didn't matter what kind of gem you were. _Crystal Gem_ was enough.

* * *

It was only later, when the two of them had circled back and were headed home that Blue spoke up again. She was overflowing with questions, both big and small, now that she finally felt like she could speak freely, and she hardly knew where to begin.

"Pearl?"

"Yes?"

She chewed at her lip, finally working up the courage to ask about the most important thing, the one that had been on her mind since they'd settled in on Earth. "…I have a question."

"I'll answer as best I can."

Blue hesitated, clasping her hands in front of her chest and then separating them when she realized she had slipped back into her court habits. "I read that humans have particular customs they follow when someone dies?"

"Ah, yes, they do. Why do you ask?"

"I-I was wondering if…if there were designated places for such rituals?"

"I'm not sure I follow, but yes, there generally are. Why?"

"Oh! Oh dear, that was strange to ask, wasn't it? I just didn't want you to react badly…" Blue pressed one palm over her gem. "There are—I have—I wanted to bury them properly. Some of the Pearls who didn't make it."

"You brought them with you?" Pearl asked in surprise.

She nodded. "I didn't want Homeworld to have them."

"That's—That's very noble of you, if unorthodox. How did you…?"

"In here," she said, tapping her fingers lightly over her gem.

Pearl recoiled immediately, horror spreading across her face as she came to a complete halt. " _Inside_ you?"

Blue flinched. "Yes?"

"You at least bubbled them, right?"

"No, I don't know how to do that."

"Take them out _right now_ ," Pearl said. "Please."

She did so, quickly pulling out the small box of remains.

"Is that all of them?" Pearl demanded, barely looking at the contents as she lifted it out of Blue's hands.

"Yes."

"You're absolutely sure?"

"Yes, I am, but—" She stared as a pale bubble enveloped the box in Pearl's hands. "Why?"

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?" Pearl asked, eyes flicking back and forth between the bubble and Blue's gem. "Can I—Would it bother you if I sent this to the temple for safekeeping?"

Her initial reaction was to say yes, but she knew she could trust Pearl—and the others—with them for a little while. "Go ahead."

Pearl tapped the bubble, sending it back to the temple. "Blue, look at me," she insisted, taking her by the shoulders. "How long did you have those in there?"

"I-I don't know. I started taking them about…three thousand years ago? I saved them whenever I was able; it wasn't all at once."

" _Blue._ "

"I don't understand. Why are you upset?"

"Because it's a miracle you haven't corrupted yourself by now!"

" _Corrupted?_ "

"Your gem isn't meant to store _other gems_ ," Pearl told her, eyes blown wide with fear. "Not long term, and certainly not unprotected shards like that. I accidentally put an active gem artifact in mine once, and just that was enough to make me ill— _you've_ been doing it for thousands of years, who knows what kind of damage that can do!"

Blue stared down at her chest, feeling sick. "I had no idea," she whispered. "Is it… _Will_ I get corrupted? Did it do something to me?" She lifted shaky hands to cover herself.

"Oh, stars, I wasn't trying to scare you," Pearl said, placing a hand gently over Blue's. "If nothing's happened by now, I'm sure you're fine. All the same, it's probably best not to tempt fate."

"I won't. I won't do it again. Oh my stars." She hid her face in her hands. "I feel so silly, of _course_ that's unnatural…"

"It's alright," Pearl said soothingly. "It's alright, you were just doing what you could." She waited patiently until Blue looked up again, still pale. "In answer to your previous inquiries, yes, I can help you find somewhere to bury them."

"Thank you," she said with a small smile.

"And just to be safe, I'm going to take you by Rose's fountain and make sure your gem doesn't need healing. Is that alright?"

"Definitely." She let Pearl lead the way, her legs trembling. There had always been certain constants in her life after she learned of the rebellion. She told the other Pearls about the renegade, she listened and remembered whatever she heard in the courts, she behaved well at all times for her own safety, and she rescued the remains of her sisters when she could. Those facets, which she'd chosen for herself, made up her existence; they were the foundations on which she built her way of self-preservation in a perilous world. There was enough danger on the outside; she had never expected that she was hurting herself with her actions.

What exactly _had_ it done to her?

Blue hurried after Pearl, anxious to get to their destination. It made her feel empty, not having the remains there, but the thought of having them there again made her feel sick.

 _There are so many things no one ever tells Pearls on Homeworld._

* * *

"I'm sorry I scared you," Pearl apologized again, helping Blue into the fountain. "There's no way you could have known the danger of it."

"I should have though. And it's fine, I'm glad I know now." Blue sank in up to her neck, tips of her hair dampening as they grazed the water. "Mm, this feels nice."

"It does," Pearl said with a small smile, dipping her fingers into the fountain and then lifting them to her forehead. "Is it helping?"

Blue took a moment to consider the question. "Not really," she said apologetically. Her eyes drifted between the water, Pearl, and the beautiful plants all around them. "I mean, it's doing something for my vision, at least. That's always tended to come and go, and this is definitely pushing it towards the better end of the spectrum. But…"

"It's not really fixing anything," Pearl finished. "I'm sorry. It was worth trying."

She nodded gratefully, stepping out of the water and letting the remaining droplets on her dry in the sunlight as she perched next to Pearl on the edge. "Thank you for bringing me."

"You're welcome."

"May I ask you something?"

"I believe this is the part where I'm supposed to point out that you just did."

Blue blinked, taking a moment to process before she chuckled, hiding her smile behind her fingers. "I guess I did. Anyway, the question was: How did you meet Rose Quartz?"

Pearl laughed, shaking her head. "That's a long story, and I'm probably going to end up crying if I tell it."

"Well, I already cried all over you, so it'll even things out," she returned lightly. "It's okay if you don't want to though."

"Maybe another time," she agreed amiably. "I'm sure Yellow will be interested too, and I daresay it may be time to tell Steven as well. Might as well do it all at once."

"That makes sense." Blue kicked her feet lightly against the stone, thinking. "You know, if it is damaging…"

"Oh, please don't get paranoid about it, I didn't mean—"

"No, no, I won't. But if it is—and it definitely makes sense that it's why my eyes are messed up—maybe that's also why I'm not as strong as you and Yellow?"

"The difference is negligible, considering your skill with weaponry, but I do see what you're saying."

She blushed deeply. "Um, thank you. But it still seems odd, when we're all Pearls…"

"Yes, I suppose it's possible," Pearl said thoughtfully. "Some kind of slow decline, perhaps."

"It's strange," Blue murmured, looking down at herself. "I never felt anything."

"Well, they weren't hostile," she replied. "I'm sure they could have done much worse."

"You think they knew I was trying to help?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," Pearl said. "I think that if any semblance of consciousness still existed there, they would have known one of their own kind. And a fellow Pearl is never the enemy."

"Ah. I hope that was the case then." She dragged her fingers over the smooth edge of the fountain. "I'll try and be more careful from now on."

"Good," Pearl replied, raising her eyebrow. "Does that mean you'll also agree to a less drastic training schedule?"

Blue laughed, embarrassed. "Yeah."

"Excellent." Pearl stood up. "Don't expect me to go easy on you, though. You're still plenty capable of six to eight hours' worth of practice daily, and I'm determined to try to have you summoning before we pay Homeworld a visit."

"'We'?"

"I'm the original renegade, aren't I? Someone has to show you how it's done."

She stood and took a quick step forward, smiling widely as she clasped Pearl's hand for a brief moment. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied with a smile. "Now come along. You need to rest for the evening, but I'd like to show you some of the other weapons I have in my collection. We'll change up practice a bit tomorrow."

"I can try something other than my sword?"

"You don't have to sound so excited."

"Can I try _two_ swords?"

"Sometimes you bear an uncanny resemblance to me at the beginning of the rebellion."

"Is that a yes?"

"Why not?"


	8. Chapter 8

"Blue, a moment?" Pearl asked, leaning over the side of one of the water towers so she could see the other gem, who was lying peacefully in the shallow water at the edge of the room.

Blue opened her eyes reluctantly and pushed herself into a sitting position. "Yes?"

"Come up here and tell me what you think of these."

She shook out her wet hair and leapt up to join Pearl. "These are the swords you used in the rebellion," she gasped in delight, laughing nervously as Pearl handed them over.

"Actually, they're not," Pearl said. "These particular swords were forged later, but they are the same _type_ of sword as I had back then…"

"You'll let me use these?"

"Test them out a bit first; see if they're comfortable for you."

Blue swiveled her wrists a little, getting a feel for the weight of the blades. She took a few steps away and slashed them through the air one at a time. "They're perfect," she decided, swishing them up and cutting down in an X-shape.

"Don't do that," Pearl told her, coming over and lifting the swords out of her hands.

"Was it wrong?"

"No, it's just a terribly ineffective way to fight."

"But you used it," Blue protested, projecting a small image of Pearl from her gem.

Pearl blinked down at the projection, her cheeks going blue with embarrassment. "Well, if I'd known another Pearl was going to try copying me five thousand years later…" She caught Blue's curious look. "I was showing off," she admitted, flicking a sword back and forth through the projection until Blue made it vanish.

"Showing off?" Blue asked with a smirk.

"If you were the only renegade Pearl in known history, you'd have done it too," she said, flustered. "Look, Homeworld's first impression of me was that I got stolen by some Quartz with big ideas. I wanted my second impression to be a little more memorable. And _accurate._ "

"Rose Quartz _didn't_ steal you, did she?"

"What? Of course not, don't be ridiculous. If anything, _I_ stole _her._ " She laughed at Blue's startled expression and passed the swords back to her. "Anyway, take these. I'll pick some out for Yellow as well, in case she wants to try. Hmm, and perhaps we can see how you two fare with some daggers or…" Pearl trailed off as she pulled more of her collection out to inspect it for possible choices. "Yes, we'll try these, these, and _these_ , that should be plenty for one day. Blue, what are you doing?"

"Hm?" Blue had been poking at the surface of the water with one of her swords. "I was trying to figure out how these work. The sword goes straight through, but we float."

"We're not floating; it's designed to remain stable when a gem is standing on it."

"Oh, okay. So if I let go, it would just fall straight through?"

"Please don't, Amethyst will start complaining that I'm cluttering up her clutter again."

"Is it possible for _us_ to fall through?"

"Only if you're really trying," Pearl replied, plucking one last sword from its place and dismissing the rest. "Are you finished?"

"Oh, yes, sorry," Blue laughed. "Your room is fascinating."

"Well, you're welcome to come by whenever you like, as long as you don't drop my collection down there as an experiment."

"Thanks," she said with a smile. "I won't."

"Now put those swords away; I want you resting for the next…" Pearl considered it for a moment. "Twelve hours, at the very least. Preferably until the beginning of training tomorrow."

Blue slipped them into her gem and made a mock Diamond salute in response. "As you command."

Pearl gave her a particularly long stare before a small smirk crooked her lips. "I'm starting to think you're more of a rebel than I was."

"I try," she laughed. "It's easier to act like it when you don't have to pretend to be perfect for the Diamonds."

" _That_ I know all too well. Anyway," she said, heading for the door, "I do have plans for the afternoon, I'm afraid. Is there anything you need before I go?"

"No, I'm alright," Blue answered, following her out into the house. "I'll just find something to do in the house."

"I'm sure Steven can come up with something if you get bored," Pearl agreed.

"Oh, Steven's here? I thought he was going to see his friend…"

"Connie, yes, but she's caught a cold."

"She what?"

"It's a minor illness humans are prone to getting. It's nothing serious, but they did have to cancel their plans."

Blue nodded, waiting for the door to slide open and then stepping out. "She's the one you're training, right?"

"That's right. I'm sure you'll be introduced soon; it's just that she was on vacation when you arrived and then…well, it seemed unwise to have her over while you and Yellow are…"

"Right," Blue said guiltily. "I'll, um, I'll fix that."

"I'm sure you will," Pearl said kindly. "Oh, and Steven told me you liked those strange little candies on sticks, so I put some more on top of the refrigerator for you."

"Oh!" she said, happy surprise lighting up her face. "Really?"

"Well, I can't guarantee it's a _full_ package, but I told Amethyst to leave you at least half or I'd organize all her things."

Blue snickered. "Thanks, Pearl." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Wait, wouldn't that have been before we talked?"

A faint blush rose to her cheeks. "Well, I was working my way up to confronting the issue myself, and it seemed like it would be a good conversation starter."

"Bribery is a solid tactic."

"It wasn't _bribery!_ "

"Well, thank you anyway," she said with a smile. "I'll see you later?"

"See you later," Pearl replied.

Blue stood there for a moment, then hopped up onto the back of the sofa, poking her head into Steven's room as she balanced there. "Steven?" she asked tentatively. "Are you busy?"

"Nope, just watching TV! What's up?"

"Oh, I was—"

"Blue, get _off_ the couch, that's not for standing on!"

Her face flushed with embarrassment and she jumped, flipping herself up into the loft and landing gracefully. "Sorry, Pearl!"

"And you're meant to be _resting_ ," she called back.

"Oops."

Steven giggled and made room for her beside him as Pearl headed outside.

"If you can sit on it," Blue whispered, "why can't you stand on it?"

"It's important to be civilified," he replied in a stage whisper.

"To be…what?"

"It's bad manners."

"Oh," Blue said, still confused. "Okay, I won't do it again."

"It's not really a big deal though."

"Your customs are rather confusing."

Steven laughed. "That's okay, you'll get used to it."

She nodded.

"So did you need something, or did you just wanna watch _Under the Knife_ with me?"

Blue glanced towards the television and grimaced. "What _is_ that?" She shook her head, looking back to Steven. "No, I just had a question."

"Okay!" He turned off the TV with the remote.

"So, well, you know Yellow and I have been…"

"Fighting?" Steven supplied carefully.

"Yes, I suppose."

"Yeah."

"What's the best way to apologize?" she asked quickly.

"Hmm…talk to her, I guess?" Steven replied with a shrug.

"Just talk?"

He nodded. "I mean, you could get her a present too, but…I think talking usually helps the most?"

"That makes sense," Blue agreed quietly. "I don't think she _wants_ to talk to me, though."

"Really? She keeps worrying about you when you're not here."

"What?"

"I mean, she doesn't _say_ she's worried, but she always asks if you're back and makes that face like—" He twisted his mouth into a frown and furrowed his brow. "And sometimes she makes up insults but I don't think she says them to be mean."

Blue snickered, then caught herself and grew serious again. "She really does worry, doesn't she?" she asked softly.

"Mm-hm." Steven looked up at her with searching eyes. "Are you okay?"

She nodded quickly. "I'm okay."

"You look really tired lately."

"I know," Blue said sheepishly. "I'm not going to overtrain anymore though. I promise."

"Okay," Steven said, looking relieved. "Do you want me to heal you?"

"Heal me?" she asked blankly. "Oh," she realized, "you have Rose Quartz's healing powers?"

"Yep!"

"I was actually just at her fountain, so I'm okay. Thank you."

"You're welcome," he said easily. "You can ask me anytime if you need it."

"That's very kind of you." She hesitated, glancing back towards the TV as she started to get up. "You can watch your show. I think I'm just going to…do nothing for a while."

"Mmkay," Steven agreed. "You can stay here and do nothing if you want."

"That would be alright?"

"Sure!" He smiled. "We can just hang out; you don't have to talk or anything."

"That sounds great," Blue replied, thankful for the offer of company. She felt rather drained emotionally and even if she wasn't really up to another conversation, she appreciated the escape from having to process her thoughts in solitude.

Steven turned his show back on and Blue returned to her previous spot, stretching her legs out in front of her and pointing her toes for a moment, then relaxing them and stretching her arms up over her head and down again. She felt a bit drowsy, and she couldn't quite place whether it was physical or emotional exhaustion. She let her eyes slip closed and pressed the heels of her palms into them briefly before swiping some stray hair away from her face restlessly.

 _I'm okay_ , she told herself. _I'm on Earth. I'm safe. I'm learning._ She would figure things out with Yellow tomorrow, when she had more energy to put towards that conversation. For now, she just needed to relax. It was a rather strange idea after giving herself next to no free time over the course of the past weeks.

Blue hesitantly rearranged herself so she could see the TV better, lying flat on her stomach with her shins resting against the end of the bed and her head propped up on her arms. She didn't really get what was happening, but once it had been playing for nearly an hour, she started to find it amusing. She might not know much about humans, but everything happening on the screen was so unnecessarily dramatic and nonsensical that it ended up being enjoyable.

Earth was so _interesting._

Blue watched the program with Steven until he had to go eat dinner and watched as he heated up some kind of food she didn't recognize in the microwave. He brought it back upstairs with him and offered her some, but she declined politely and went to retrieve one of the lollipops instead—there was approximately three quarters of the bag left and she made a mental note to thank Amethyst next time she saw her. She didn't much like the digesting part of eating but the flavors were nice, so the candy was a good compromise.

After another few hours of episodes—it was a marathon, Steven informed her—Pearl came up to tell him it was time to get ready for bed.

"Aww, okay," Steven agreed reluctantly. He texted Connie a "good night" and went downstairs to get changed and brush his teeth.

"You don't have to feel obligated to watch," Pearl said, sitting down on the edge of the bed as she watched him leave.

"Oh, I don't," Blue said. "I like it; it's funny."

"Funny?" Pearl repeated doubtfully, looking at her askance. "Alright then," she said, confused. "Well, if you want to keep watching fictional humans cut each other open and rearrange body parts, there's always the TV out in the barn, though you may have to fight Peridot for the controls. Amethyst has some TV sets in her room as well, but they're not connected to cable."

"Thanks, but I'm fine. The cutting-open wasn't really the part I enjoyed. It actually gets a bit…" She wrinkled her nose. "Too much," she concluded finally. "Anyway, I think I'll just rest on my own for a little while."

"You're welcome to use my room if you want some quiet; I'll be going back out with Garnet and Amethyst to work on gathering some weapons."

Blue nodded. "Thank you."

"It's no trouble."

Steven came back up a moment later, dressed for bed, and gave them both a hug good night, Pearl promising to pass the message along to the rest of the Crystal Gems too.

Afterward, Pearl led Blue back downstairs and opened the door to her room, following the other Pearl a few steps inside and letting the doors slide shut.

"Thank you," Blue said again. "I appreciate it."

Pearl nodded, not moving to leave. "Did you need anything?"

"No, thanks."

"Alright." She hesitated. "Blue?

"Yes?"

"I don't know if I ever said it, but thank you." Pearl smiled faintly. "You kept that memory of the Renegade alive for the other Pearls long after I was gone and long after it would have been forgotten."

"I…" Her throat felt tight. "I did my best."

"You did well." Pearl's hand ghosted over her shoulder. "Thank you for giving them hope."

"Thanks," she whispered, a shy smile slowly spreading across her face. "I'll keep at it. Training at the usual time tomorrow?"

"If you're up to it."

"I will be."

"No extra practice tonight."

"I know," Blue laughed. "I already promised Steven too."

"Good. I'll see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning."

* * *

They had worked things out, Yellow knew, from the way they spoke to each other differently now, even though she just caught a few strands of conversation as they met to go to the arena. They sounded more like friends now, with a kind of warmth that felt different from what Yellow had shared with Blue.

They had always been friends by circumstance though, hadn't they? The chance at an ally was rare for a Pearl on Homeworld, and it had been convenient to have someone. Yellow didn't particularly like that thought, but she kept coming back to it anyway. After all, if Blue had Pearl, who she looked up to and respected, she wouldn't have much use for Yellow. Her past wasn't anything to be proud of, and they both knew that.

It hurt. She'd been sick with concern over what Blue was doing to herself and now that it seemed to be over, she ought to feel better. She didn't. She just wanted to turn her emotions off so she wouldn't have to deal with any of them. She had work to do, she had an obligation to the other Pearls, and she needed to keep her focus. She needed to be something better than she used to be.

Every day after training, Yellow immediately headed out to the barn, hoping that if she kept herself occupied it would help somehow. But even that wasn't much of a respite, with Peridot hovering around and pointing out every little mistake she made. The two of them got increasingly frustrated with one another, and while there was a tiny flicker of satisfaction whenever she managed to one-up the technician, it was followed by the same terrible emptiness upon realizing she was exactly the Pearl Blue had said she was.

At night, she usually retreated to Amethyst's room, because Amethyst wasn't Blue, Pearl, or Peridot, and she was less prone to drag Yellow into a conversation about feelings than Steven or Garnet. Amethyst was always happy to distract her with various human items scattered around her room, and she'd even let Yellow begin to gather her own—more organized—pile of useful objects to tinker with in one corner when she got tired of company. It was…okay. It gave her something to do, and that was important.

Training itself was strange, because if she wasn't talking to Blue then it felt like some very odd, perfunctory duty shared with two gems she barely knew. She wasn't sure what it was going to be like with Blue and Pearl talking more, but she wasn't looking forward to that either. She enjoyed the training itself, but she wished it was something she could do on her own.

Yellow followed the other two Pearls to the arena, trying to tune out whatever it was they were saying.

 _Just learn. You're here to learn. Do your part._

Dual-wielding was apparently on the agenda for today and if Yellow wasn't so preoccupied with her own thoughts, she likely would have been just as enthusiastic as Blue appeared to be.

As per usual, she and Blue sat down and Pearl stood in front of them to demonstrate what they would be doing.

"Hello," Blue said quietly as she joined her.

Yellow hid a flicker of surprise as her eyes slid sideways. "I see you're speaking to me again."

"I wasn't _not_ speaking to you," Blue countered. "You were avoiding me."

"You're not wrong."

"Am I interrupting?" Pearl cut in, looking mildly irritated by the lack of attention they were paying her explanation.

"Sorry," Blue said immediately, giving Yellow one last glance, oddly nervous.

"Alright. Today we'll be testing out a number of different weapons and their respective techniques so you can be exposed to some different forms of combat. If there's one that you find interests you besides the sword, I will be happy to help you learn it as best I can. Understood?"

They nodded.

"To begin," Pearl declared, handing Yellow a pair of matching swords as Blue drew a similar set from her gem, "you need to understand a few basic concepts. Dual-wielding is _not_ the same as single-wielding. It requires extreme diligence, precision, and focus."

"Yes, that sounds incredibly different from everything we've been doing up until now," Yellow said under her breath.

"It would explain why your sarcasm is more refined than your sword technique," Pearl returned easily.

She scowled and straightened her shoulders.

"As I was saying, you'll find dual-wielding comes with its own unique challenges." She cleared her throat. "The most important thing," Pearl continued, "is to be able to use both hands with the same degree of skill. Gems are naturally ambidextrous, but we can develop a tendency towards a dominant hand. If so, it becomes necessary to correct that habit."

Blue nodded. "I think I did that on accident."

"Yes, you do tend to favor your right, from what I've seen." She turned her attention to Yellow. "And you as well, I believe?"

Yellow shook her head. "I don't think so. I've only been using my right hand because that's how you demonstrate things."

"Oh," Pearl said, surprised. "In that case, you should take to this more easily. Blue, you might have to do a _moderate_ amount of extra practice to get accustomed to it."

She grinned. "Moderate. Understood."

Pearl took the next few minutes to demonstrate the basics of her own dual-wielding technique. "You don't have to do this exactly like I do," she told them. "This is just a starting point. Remember, one sword to defend, one to attack. Switch them up and don't get too predictable. It's going to be difficult to divide your attention that way at first, but you'll adjust. Who wants to try first?"

Blue glanced at Yellow. "You can go first, if you like," she said politely.

Yellow shrugged and stood up, trying to get a feel for both swords. "Against you or one of your holograms?" she asked Pearl.

"Against me. My holograms aren't refined enough to accommodate for your inexperience, and I'd rather not have you retreat to your gem over some trivial mistake."

"Yes, that might get us off schedule," Yellow said dryly.

"Ready?" Pearl prompted her, hiding a faint smile.

She nodded, settling into the now-familiar stance. _Offense and defense. Left and right. Focus._

Pearl waited for her to make the first move but quickly settled into a refined but careful string of attacks. It was harder than it looked to coordinate both hands into something that was actually a functional method of fighting, but Yellow could tell her body was adjusting to it with each strike.

"And stop," Pearl declared as one of her swords came within inches of Yellow's forehead. She dropped both hands to her sides. "Self-evaluation?"

"I need to work on coordination," Yellow said slowly, relaxing and taking a step back. "And I wasn't following through with my strikes at the beginning."

"Yes, but you corrected that quickly," Pearl said, looking pleased. "I'd also recommend working on your patterns of movement. You tend to settle into rather predictable ones, and you'll need to break that habit. Blue could probably assist you with that."

"We could stay after and work on it," Blue offered quickly. "And you could help me with my accuracy?"

"I said I'd go back right away to work on the ship," Yellow said flatly.

"Oh. Okay. Some other time then…"

"Yes, I'm sure something can be arranged," Pearl said. "Blue, your turn."

"Alright." She gathered up her faltering confidence again and strode out to meet Pearl in the middle of the arena. "I'm ready."

Yellow watched with fascination from the sidelines as the two of them faced off. Blue was, as always, quick on her feet and quite skilled in her execution of sword technique, but she seemed a bit less adept with two. After a moment, she realized why and nearly laughed aloud. Pearl seemed to notice something was off too and quickly stopped the spar.

"What are you doing?" she asked in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Blue asked.

"What was all of…that?" Pearl gestured vaguely with one hand.

Blue eyes widened in realization. "Oh! I just automatically…um…I memorized what you did and I practiced it just in case, back on Homeworld?"

Pearl gave her an increasingly incredulous stare. "When did you even have time to practice?"

"Well, when I say practice, I mean I just thought about it a lot and tried it a handful of times without any swords." She blushed.

Pearl looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or not. "Well," she said finally, "in all fairness, it was better than nothing at all, but at this point…"

"I know, I can't just copy," Blue agreed. "I didn't actually mean to do that. Can I try it again?"

"Yes," Pearl agreed, "but this time just fight like _you._ "

She nodded. "I will."

The next round was still not quite up to her usual standards, but that was more due to the newness and experimentation. She maintained her poise throughout and seemed to be picking up the technique rather well despite the slip-ups.

The rest of the morning was spent trying out various other weapons, most of which Yellow immediately dismissed as possible options for herself. Some of them were alright, but she much preferred her sword—two swords? She'd have to try them out some more on her own time.

For now, though, it was a nice distraction.

* * *

It would have been easier to talk to Yellow if the other Pearl wasn't actively avoiding her, but Blue was frustrated enough by the end of practice to chase after her as they were leaving.

"I want to talk to you," she said.

"I'm busy—"

"Please, Yellow. I don't like this."

The other Pearl looked away sharply. "I'm not apologizing for my opinion on your previous behavior."

"I don't want you to," Blue replied. " _I_ want to apologize." She followed Yellow as she made her way out of the arena.

"For what?"

"For—Yellow, _listen!_ "

She kept walking. "I am listening. What do you have to apologize for?"

"I shouldn't have said what I did, it wasn't fair to you—"

"You don't need to apologize for telling the truth," Yellow interrupted coolly.

Blue stopped abruptly, grabbing Yellow's arm and yanking her back.

" _What?_ " she demanded, half-flinching at the contact.

"That wasn't the _truth_ , Yellow, I was just lashing out because I was stressed and…" Her grip faltered as she tried unsuccessfully to make eye contact with the other Pearl. "You…don't actually think…?"

"Think what?" Yellow asked. "That I only cared about myself? That I thought I was better than the other Pearls? Well, I _did._ So there's really nothing to apologize for; you were exactly right. Now, if you'll excuse me—"

"I won't."

"What?"

"I won't excuse you." She took a step closer, putting them nearly nose to nose. "I want you to accept my apology, because I was wrong to say that!"

"But you _weren't_ wrong—"

"I _was._ "

They glared at each other until, finally, Yellow shook her head and stepped back, lowering her eyes. "I have work to do."

"Yellow."

"It's fine, Blue. Don't worry about it."

"I'm worried about _you._ "

"I can look out for myself," she said. "That's pretty much all I'm good at anyway." She leapt onto the warp pad and disappeared in a stream of dazzling light.

Blue watched her go, hands clenching into fists. She wanted to chase after her, but she wasn't sure that would do any good. "Why do you have to be so stubborn about everything?" she called after her, voice traveling farther than she'd intended in the open, empty space. She sighed and pressed her back flush against the wall, sagging a little against the cool stone. The Diamond insignia—the old one, the one that had been erased from Homeworld's history—was imprinted beside her, the tip of the blue quarter just over her head and the pink grazing her arm.

She wished she could rip the whole thing down, and all of the pain that still festered inside of her and Yellow because of it.

Blue stood there for a moment longer, and then closed her eyes to gather herself before she headed back to the house.

She'd try again tomorrow. She'd try harder. Yellow might be stubborn, but Blue had five thousand years of quiet rebellion under her belt and she wasn't about to give up over one setback.

* * *

The problem was, telling Blue she had work to do meant Yellow had to go _find_ work to do. Peridot would have gotten along fine without her help for a couple of hours, but she'd feel like a coward if she just disappeared and blatantly ran away from the conversation.

Yellow took the long way back to the barn and slipped inside with a brief greeting, happy that the other gem seemed busy enough not to care that she had company. She settled in to work, carefully setting out her tools beside her and beginning work on the part of the computer terminal that would hopefully, when repaired, supply them with some of the data from the original ship that she had transferred.

She and Peridot worked in silence for some time, the only noise the hum of machinery, and Yellow wasn't sure if it was comforting or too close to her former work environment.

After a while, Peridot scooted closer, sparing Yellow a single glance before resituating herself with the microwave she was dissembling.

"Hand me that," she said after a moment, waving a hand behind her vaguely.

Yellow could tell she meant the screwdriver, but she was getting a bit annoyed with the way the other gem kept assuming she'd do things for her so she deliberately ignored the instruction and continued working.

"Hey!" Peridot twisted around. "That thing. The lev—the screwdriver or whatever it's called."

"I know what you're referring to."

"Can I have it then?"

"Certainly; I'm not using it."

Peridot groaned and reluctantly pulled herself away to walk over and get the screwdriver. "Thank you _so much_ for your assistance."

"My pleasure."

The technician glared at her for a moment, then sat down beside her to examine the machinery she'd been working on. "Have you connected the—"

"Yes, I have."

"And—"

"I know what I'm doing, 5XG."

Peridot's eyes hardened. "Fine." She watched for a little while longer. "You're going to need to rewire that part as well," she added, pointing. "It'll overload otherwise."

"I'll keep that in mind," Yellow replied stiffly.

The smaller gem glared at her. "I'm trying to be accommodating here; you could at least listen to me!"

"And you could at least pretend I have some measure of competence."

"I _am!_ I'm letting you work here, aren't I?"

"You're _letting_ me?" Yellow narrowed her eyes. "I don't need your permission."

"I wasn't saying—"

"Hey guys!" Amethyst's voice rang out from the door. "If you're done arguing, I brought you something cool!"

They exchanged a dark look and then reluctantly turned their attention to Amethyst.

"What is it?" Peridot asked, raising her eyebrow when she saw everything Amethyst was carrying.

"Music!" She pointed to an old CD player, which was at the bottom of the very large mish-mash of objects in her arms.

"Music?" the two of them echoed in harmony.

"Yeah!"

Peridot wrinkled her nose. "I appreciate the gesture, Amethyst, but—"

"C'mon, it'll be fun, Peri!" She dumped a pile of CDs on the floor. "I got a bunch of junk from my room. Oh, and check these out, I found some of Greg's old stuff too."

"Steven's Greg?" Yellow asked curiously, leaning over.

"Yeah, he used to be a rock star. Or, like, he _tried_ to be a rock star? And then he fell in love with a rock and decided to stay here instead!"

"That made no sense, and I think Rose Quartz might be offended at being called a rock," Yellow said dryly.

"Nah, she'd be cool with it," Amethyst laughed. "Uh…let's see… A rock star is somebody who gets really famous because of their singing and makes a bunch of money. That make sense?"

"Mostly."

The Quartz grinned and popped open one of the CD cases, pulling out a disk. "Here, let's see what you think."

Yellow watched the player whir as it read the disk. Sound blasted out of it a few seconds later and she cringed. "Does it have to be so loud?" she asked over the music.

Peridot flung herself towards the CD player and twisted a knob around as quickly as she could, dimming the music to a barely distinguishable mumble. "No," she said, "that's just Amethyst."

"Heh, sorry 'bout that." Amethyst turned it up again to a more medium volume.

— _stars and stardust and infinite space is my only home—_

"He sings about space?" Yellow asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yep, he had it _bad_ , even before he met Rose."

"That's…bizarre. Like most everything else here."

"We agree on one thing," Peridot muttered under her breath, then yelped as Amethyst dragged her to her feet. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Dancing," Amethyst replied with a grin, taking Peridot's hands and trying to get her to move to the beat. "You guys have been stuck in here for days; you need a break."

"This is a very important part of the pro— _Amethyst!_ " she squeaked, tripping over her feet and crashing into the other gem. "I don't know what kind of dance this is meant to be, but I have no idea what steps are involved and I don't think I'm prepared to fuse with anyone right now—"

"We're not trying to fuse, we're just having fun." Amethyst steadied her, keeping them moving. "Want to join us, Yellow?"

"I'll pass."

"Okay, but you're missing out!" Amethyst spun Peridot in a circle, laughing.

Peridot barely kept her balance as Amethyst twirled her around and then let go, slipping into her usual style of dance. Peridot attempted to copy her, her face tinged with an embarrassed blue as she fumbled her way through the motions.

Amethyst snapped her fingers in time to the beat to help and stepped closer to Peridot. "Gotta use your _hips_ ," she said, placing her hands lightly on either side of Peridot's waist. "Like this and…yep, loosen up, there you go!" She left Peridot to her own devices again, flicking her long hair back. "You've got this, Peri!"

Yellow watched in amusement as the two of them danced, unable to stop a small smirk from spreading over her face as she thought about the fact that she was in some obscure corner of the universe, listening to an organic species sing about space while a Peridot and an Amethyst danced together without a second thought. Her life was _weird_ lately.

And, just for a moment, Yellow wished Blue was around. She would enjoy this sort of thing.

" _Aaaaaat the moment that I hit the stage_ ," Amethyst sang, pretending to hold up a microphone and then passing it over to Peridot for the next line.

" _I hear the universe calling my name_ ," she sang, only slightly off-key.

" _And I know deep down in my heart I have nothing to fear!_ " Amethyst finished grandly. " _And as the solar wind blows through my hair—_ " She tossed her hair back and then burst into laughter when Peridot automatically tried to imitate her, without much success. Amethyst took her hands again when she looked like she was about to stop and led her through a couple more simple steps as the lyrics faded out, striking a pose at the very end. " _I'm just a comet._ "

Peridot giggled a little as she let go. "Are all of his songs like this?"

"He's _Mr. Universe_ , P-dot, what did you expect?"

"Humans are so _strange._ "

"C'mon, you know you loved it," Amethyst said. "I mean, it's not what I usually go for, but it's got a certain charm, right?"

"Is that why you know all the words?" Peridot asked, snorting with laughter.

"No, that's because Rose played this on loop for years and drove the rest of us crazy. Oh, Pearl especially, just start humming the first few bars and she's _done._ You should try it." She turned to Yellow. "And hey, don't we get any applause?"

Yellow smirked and obliged, clapping for them. She was still a little unused to making so much extra noise on her own.

"Thank you, thank you," she laughed, bowing. "Sure you don't want a turn?"

"I'm sure."

"Aww, okay." Amethyst clapped her on the back. "I've gotta go meet up with the others, but you guys can hang onto the CDs. There's some good stuff in there, even if you're not a Mr. Universe fan."

"Okay," Yellow agreed. She hadn't minded the music, actually. It was odd and the lyrics didn't make much sense to her, but it was a drastic change from the ritualistic singing she knew. This music actually seemed to mean something, seemed to belong to the person singing it.

Peridot turned it off once Amethyst was gone, content with the mechanical sounds that usually accompanied her work, but Yellow reached over after a few minutes to power it back on, lowering the volume slightly.

"Is that really necessary?" Peridot complained.

"Yes," she replied succinctly. It was better than talking and better than getting lost in a quiet buzz of machinery that was all too reminiscent of Yellow Diamond's control room. And even if the human concept of the universe was incredibly skewed, it was nice to hear something hopeful about the whole thing. For a minute, she could just enjoy herself, and that was new.

 _This life in the stars is all I've ever known…_

She didn't have time to get distracted though, not when there were more important things, and she let the music glide through the air around her and fade into background noise as she worked.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day quickly turned into a repeat of the one before.

Blue made multiple attempts to talk to Yellow again and was repeatedly shut down before she could get more than a few words out. Yellow didn't even seem angry with her, which made her feel worse and made the whole process more excruciating. She could at least have some kind of a conversation with her if she was angry, but she had no idea how to get anywhere with this feigned indifference.

After training, she came back to the house and flopped down on the sofa, tired and frustrated.

"Hey, Blue," Amethyst said, coming in through the front door. "P work you extra hard today?"

"Oh, Amethyst, hello! No, training was fine."

"What's up then?"

"She won't listen," she replied dispiritedly.

"Who, Lemon Drop?"

Blue propped herself up on her elbows to give Amethyst a confused look.

"Y'know, Nerd #3? Your partner in crime?"

"Oh, you mean Yellow! Yes." She tilted her head. "Why are you calling her Lemon Drop?"

"Because you guys are in desperate need of nicknames. I'll think of some for you too, don't worry."

"I'm…not sure I understand."

"They're just other names you come up with for people. Usually something shorter, but you can't really get anything cool from 'Yellow' so I'm taking artistic license."

"I don't think she'll appreciate it much."

Amethyst grinned. "That's half the fun, isn't it?" She came over and sat down on the other end of the sofa. "So what's up? Want me to drag her over here for you?"

"No thanks." Blue let herself fall back onto the couch, arms crisscrossing above her head. "It should just stay between us. I'll keep trying until she decides to listen."

"That's the spirit," Amethyst said lazily, stretching. "If you want a backup plan, I know a good death trap where you can work out all your feelings."

"That's a joke, right?" she asked, mildly alarmed.

"Joke," she confirmed. "Happened to Pearl and Garnet once. Here on Earth, we generally try to avoid putting our friends in death traps."

Blue smiled. "Good."

"That's not something Homeworld actually _does_ , right?"

"What, death traps?"

"Yeah."

"The Diamonds _do_ get bored sometimes."

Amethyst looked down at her, startled.

"That…was a joke," Blue said awkwardly.

"Sorry, you said it with such a straight face," she laughed. "And Homeworld's already seriously messed up; it's not that much of a stretch."

"That's fair," she replied. "I forget you haven't been there."

"That's okay, I get the feeling I wouldn't have liked it much," Amethyst said lightly. "So, you just going to lay here all day?"

"No," Blue sighed. "I was just thinking. Once I eased up on the training, I realized I don't really know what to do with free time. And if I spend it all trying to talk to Yellow, I'm just going to end up annoying her."

"Well, _I'm_ going to lay here all day, so feel free to join me."

"You don't have things to do?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, but if I do them now Pearl won't have anything to complain about."

"That's very considerate of you," Blue laughed.

"I know."

The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"You've been talking to Yellow, right?" Blue asked after a while. "Does she… Does she seem okay?"

"Girl's four different kinds of uptight," Amethyst said with a shrug. "Kinda like Pearl, except I haven't known her for thousands of years, sooo…no idea, sorry."

"Oh. That's alright."

"I mean, I'm guessing that the fact she practically locks herself in the barn for most of the day means _something's_ wrong?"

"I—I don't really know, honestly," Blue admitted. "I mean, she's avoiding me, but she's very focused to begin with."

Amethyst laughed. "Yeah, I used to think it was hard to drag _Peri_ away, but she's a whole new level."

Blue cracked a small smile.

"You two'll be fine," she added reassuringly, poking the top of Blue's head. "You're a team."

"A team," she echoed quietly. "I haven't known her for thousands of years either though," she countered. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"You're supposed to stop being mopey and keep at it until something works," Amethyst declared. "Come on, let's go out and grab a donut or something. You're thinking too much."

"Thanks, but I don't really want to eat a donut…"

"Then I'll eat yours for you."

"I thought you were just going to lie here."

"I'll do that later. Getting you a donut to not eat is my new mission."

Blue giggled. "You're the strangest Quartz I've ever met."

"Yeah?" She stood up. "Well, you're not the weirdest Pearl I've met, but you make the top three. You coming?"

"I am," she said, smiling as she got up.

"Let's go then," Amethyst said, heading for the door. "If you want, I can tell you some funny stories about your favorite renegade on the way."

"Yes _please._ "

* * *

Yellow was decidedly frustrated with _everything._

She had worked through the night, declining offers from all four of the original Crystal Gems to come back to the house and rest. Peridot hadn't really asked her, but she did announce rather loudly that she was going to "continue her Earth research for a few hours" and disappear until sunrise. Blue, meanwhile, kept trying to approach her again, making up excuses to come by and drop off supplies throughout the evening and well into the night. After a while, it was clear she had run out of ideas, so she just showed up empty-handed and stood stubbornly near the entrance of the barn trying to apologize while Yellow continued working. She was just as persistent at training, but Yellow left quickly so she couldn't be cornered into a conversation again.

Yellow had spent most of the past couple days working on reconfiguring some of the ship's systems in hopes of enhancing the warp drive, but kept running into obstacles because she hadn't really _observed_ any of this type of work. She knew the components and she knew what the end result should look like, but she was missing a few of the steps along the way. It was frustrating, but she muddled through as best she could on her own. She wasn't about to ask Peridot for help and have to acknowledge that she did, in fact, have a _slightly_ superior grasp of technology than Yellow did. It was already difficult enough to prove her usefulness without admitting that she couldn't do something this simple.

Though she quickly reconsidered her designation of the task as "simple" when she accidentally failed to align two components and caused a minor yet decidedly loud explosion. The resulting _bang_ and expulsion of smoke startled her badly, and it took her a second to gather her thoughts and quickly switch everything off, hot metal scorching her hand as she ripped away the offending piece.

"What did you do?" Peridot asked, waving her hands wildly to dispel the smoke as she came over. "That better not have been the energy converter; it would take forever to try and remake one from Earth materials."

"It wasn't the converter." Yellow crawled out from the engine room, swiping the grime off her face with one hand. "A few of the connections got fried, that's all. I can fix it."

"You're sure?" she asked skeptically.

" _Yes._ "

"I can take over," she offered. "I've worked on engines like this a thousand times."

"I said I've got it," Yellow snapped. "I don't need your help."

Peridot scowled. "You nearly blew up the whole ship just now!"

"No, I didn't. And I know how to fix it, so it's not a problem."

"You've literally never done this before!" she said exasperatedly. "I've been a technician since the day I was made and you just started, so let me handle this part of the—"

Yellow laughed sharply. "Of course that's what it comes down to."

"What?"

"You're a Peridot, I'm a Pearl, this is how it _works_ ," she said derisively. "I know how gems like you think."

"We're not on Homeworld," Peridot retorted. "I know that's not how it works here! I'm just saying you don't have the experience."

"I'm just as much a technician as you are," she shot back, hating that she couldn't actually refute the statement, "and in case you've forgotten, _I'm_ the one who flew this thing here."

"You were lucky you even got here; if you had traveled any further the warp coil would have burnt out and you and the other one would both be space debris right now!"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" She took a step closer, taking small pleasure in the fact that she was significantly taller than the other gem. "What, is it really that humiliating to see that any common Pearl can do your job?"

Peridot stiffened, glaring up at her.

"You can say you're a Crystal Gem all you want, 5XG, but you still think like every other Peridot on Homeworld."

"Stop calling me that!" she said angrily. "I _am_ a Crystal Gem! I defected!"

"And you think that makes you entitled to my respect?" she scoffed. "I'm not inclined to trust a gem who didn't give a second thought as to the consequences of her actions."

"What does that have to do with anything? Homeworld was going to come here anyway!"

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Yellow took another step forward.

"Then _what?_ "

"Talking to Yellow Diamond like that could have gotten me _shattered!_ Who do you think has to deal with her once you've ended the call?"

"I…" Peridot faltered. "I wasn't thinking about that…"

"Of course you weren't thinking about it. Nobody thinks about Pearls."

"It couldn't have been that bad, right? Yellow Diamond liked you; you've been around at least since I was made—"

"No, I haven't," she said quietly, taking a step back. She suddenly felt very, very small.

"What?"

"I wasn't around when you were made. That was the Pearl before me." She shouldn't have been surprised; she was fairly certain the only thing even remotely unique about her was that she tended to mouth off more than her predecessor.

"Oh." Peridot looked like she realized she'd made a mistake. "Sorry, you…look similar?"

"I look _identical_ ," Yellow snapped. "I look like every other Pearl she's had, and I probably look identical to whatever Pearl she's replaced me with. Do you know how hard that makes it?" she demanded. She brought one arm up, crossing it over her gem protectively like it would provide some form of self-reassurance. "Do you know how much I had to fight for every tiny piece of recognition, to try to prove I couldn't be replaced? Do you have _any_ idea what it's like to be that disposable?"

"I—"

"I have fought every single minute of my existence to stay useful and stay alive, and gems like you never even have to consider that!"

"I didn't know that before, but I know it _now!_ " Peridot said in frustration. "I'm learning! I'm trying to make this work. I don't know what it is you want."

"I want you to stop acting like I can't do anything! Just pretend I'm worth something for once!"

Yellow was suddenly hyperaware of the complete silence around them. The color drained from her face, and a sick feeling settled over her as she took one step backward, and then another.

Peridot had frozen, eyes darting to and from her anxiously, like she was afraid she might snap. "You—"

Yellow turned on her heel and ran, humiliation washing over her. Why was she even…? She needed to get out of there, needed to be alone, needed to—

She very nearly ran into Garnet upon leaving and turned sharply to avoid a collision, refusing to stop.

"Yellow," Garnet began, concern evident in her voice as she began to follow her.

"Leave me alone." She forced the words out, inwardly cringing at how pathetically weak they sounded.

Garnet had one hand halfway extended like she wanted to stop her, but she let it fall back to her side. "You should go to the house," she said finally. "There's no one there right now."

Yellow nodded and walked away as quickly as she could.

She did, somehow, force herself to get all the way there.

Her hands were trembling badly, and she could barely get the door open. She felt like she was coming apart, unable to think straight.

 _Pitiful._

Her fingers wound themselves into her hair as she paced back and forth, curled around the hem of her shirt as she ran upstairs, clutched at her shoulders as she curled into a ball in the corner, left faint marks on her skin.

 _Make it stop, make it stop, get yourself together._

She hadn't intended for this to happen, she'd just been trying to do her part and make herself useful, but she _wasn't_ and—and that was why she'd broken down like this last time, wasn't it?

 _Defective_ , she thought, palm pressed hard against her gem and not at all easing the fear and paranoia that surrounded her. She pressed herself farther into the corner and kept her eyes wide, wide open. She knew if she closed them she'd just see her former owner looming over her, hear _you ought to get a new one_ and _perhaps_ , and she refused to grant her even that tiny millimeter of control. That wasn't going to happen again. Not here.

* * *

"Blue."

Blue looked back over her shoulder, startled out of the pseudo-meditative state she'd been attempting to use to summon her weapon. She hadn't quite felt right doing _nothing_ all afternoon. "Garnet?"

The other gem came over and held out a hand to help her up. "You need to talk to Yellow."

"What for?" she asked, confused. "I mean, I've been trying and I _want_ to, but—"

"Just go," Garnet said. "She's back at the house. I'll tell Pearl where you went."

Worry spiked in her chest. "Thanks," she said hastily, getting up.

Blue took off back in the direction of the house. It appeared to be empty when she arrived, and she called out "Yellow!" a few times before opening up any doors to look for her. Finally, she found the other Pearl curled up in the corner of Steven's room, wedged between the dresser and the wall with her fingers digging into her shoulders.

"It's just me," she said quietly, remembering all too well the last time she had found Yellow like this and shown her the projections for the first time.

Yellow's eyes flicked to her and then away again.

"Are you okay?" Blue asked, dropping to her knees.

She didn't answer, shoulders hitching up higher in an incomplete shrug.

"Do you want me here, or should I leave?" She didn't want to decide for her; if she knew anything it was that Yellow needed to feel some measure of control.

"Stay," she said in a low voice.

Blue smiled faintly and moved the dresser over just enough so that she could crawl in beside Yellow. She pulled her knees in, leaving a little bit of space between them. "Okay. You can tell me to leave whenever you want."

Yellow nodded minutely, not looking at her. Her hands trembled, the one stray sign of her emotions betraying her otherwise perfectly neutral expression.

"Okay," Blue said again. She let her gem emit a soft glow, projecting familiar, recent memories of the stars and planets they'd seen on their way to Earth.

Yellow watched in silence for a minute, jaw clenching. "You don't have to do this," she said finally, voice rough around the edges.

Blue gave her a particularly intense look that she wouldn't have been able to read even if she had been in a better state of mind. "I'm trying to help."

She turned her face away. "This isn't what you did last time."

"Because you were in the hallway right outside a Diamond meeting last time, you pebble," Blue said exasperatedly, ending the projection. "My priority was keeping you alive, not being nice to you."

Yellow laughed weakly. "So calling me a pebble is your way of being nice?"

"You're usually fairly responsive to insults, so yes." Blue reached out and gently worked Yellow's hands away from her shoulders, careful not to go near her gem. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"No." She pulled her hands away from Blue and clenched them on her lap.

She hesitated, not sure what to do as silence settled around them. "I'm sorry," she offered quietly.

"Quit apologizing."

"Yellow—"

"You don't need to."

"I've missed you," Blue said, voice soft and uncertain.

"You don't have to do this," she said again, shoulders tensing.

"Why not?" she asked indignantly. "You're my friend."

"Just stop it!" she snapped. "You don't have to say that! I get it, I'm awful, and I'm sorry you got stuck with me instead of a better Pearl!"

Blue stared at her in shock for a moment after the outburst. "That's not—"

Yellow looked down at her shaking hands, eyes dark. "I'm sorry," she repeated in a small voice. "I'm sorry."

Blue hesitantly reached out, fingertips grazing her arm briefly before pulling her in close. "Stars, Yellow," she breathed. "That's what you were thinking?" She squeezed her gently. "I'm not stuck with you; I _chose_ to stay with you."

"Yeah, because there were a hundred other Pearls lined up ready to defect with you at a moment's notice," she muttered.

"Yellow, _really_ ," she sighed. "You think I didn't have my chances to escape before then? To start something?" She pressed her palm flat to Yellow's back and curled her fingers in slowly. "I needed somebody to give me a push."

She didn't reply, staying perfectly still.

"You're not awful. If anything, you've been good for me. I'm sorry," Blue said softly. "It just got to me, the way you always used to act. But that was your coping strategy for a really horrible situation, and I can't fault you for that, not entirely."

"You should."

"I _don't._ " She hesitated. "And I know you were just worried about me before. I would've done the same thing if I were you."

She flinched minutely. "I can look after myself," she muttered roughly. "I'm used to it."

Blue bit her lip and drew Yellow in as close as she could. "Me too," she murmured. "But we don't have to do everything alone anymore. I don't think we _can_." She tilted her head down, nose tucked against Yellow's upswept hair. "And if we're going to go back to Homeworld and fight, then I want you to know I'll have your back. All of us will."

Yellow slowly brought one arm up to hold onto her. "You're too sentimental for a Pearl," she whispered. "Someone's got to have your back too."

"I know."

She raised her head, pulling away to meet Blue's eyes determinedly. "You really will be stuck with me then."

"Perfect." Blue smiled, tracing carefully around Yellow's gem without touching it. "We're okay?"

"Yeah," she said, catching Blue's hand and holding it securely.

"Good." She brushed a thumb over her knuckles gently. "You'll accept my apology this time?"

"You're still fixated on that?"

"Yes. I want you to say it."

"It's accepted," Yellow said, mild exasperation creeping into her voice. "You're forgiven. Satisfied?"

Blue laughed, nodding, and squeezed her hand gently. "Thank you."

"Thank _you_ ," she said honestly, lowering her eyes.

"Of course," Blue replied seriously. "Do you want some time alone now, or would you rather I stay?"

"If you're busy, you can…"

"I'll stay," she said immediately. "I was just checking."

"Thanks." Yellow slowly covered Blue's fingers with her other hand, stilling their small, repetitive movements. "I—" She broke off when she caught sight of movement by the door, snapping her mouth shut.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude," Pearl said, coming up the stairs. "Everyone was worried, and I volunteered to check on you before they all decided to come along." Her eyes flicked briefly between the two of them. "Should I tell them you're fine?"

"Yes, please," Blue said. "Would it be alright for us to take the rest of the day off?"

"I think that can be arranged," she replied with a small smile. "Do you need anything?"

"We're fine," Yellow said, before Blue could answer. "And…thank you. I'm sorry for making a scene."

"You're hardly the first to do it," Pearl said wryly. "I'll give you two some privacy," she continued. "If you do need something later, feel free to come find us."

"Thanks," Blue repeated, watching Pearl leave and waiting for the door to close again. Once they were alone, she pulled Yellow into an embrace once more. "Anyway, I'm here," she said simply, running a hand down her back. "Whenever you want me to be."

Yellow nodded. She still felt shaken, but Blue's soft reassurances were steadily soothing her nerves. "Sorry," she muttered.

"For what?"

"Whatever I owe you an apology for."

Blue laughed lightly, settling one hand in Yellow's hair. "I'd appreciate one for the 'ornamental Pearl' comment."

"Right. For that, then." Yellow paused, then added a proper "I'm sorry."

"I don't mind you saying it," Blue countered, "since it's true. But I'd rather not have it used as an insult."

She nodded. "I understand. It won't happen again."

"Okay." Blue let go, sensing that she could use a little space. "Thank you. And thank you for worrying about me, even if you communicated it really badly."

"Sure." She kept her fingers interlaced with Blue's, giving them an uncertain tug. "Can we go somewhere else?"

Blue nodded, getting to her feet. "Where?"

"Doesn't matter."

"I think I know a good stargazing spot, if you're up for a walk."

"If I wasn't, I'd be seriously concerned about Pearl's ability to train anyone," Yellow replied with a smirk.

"Then I'll leave a note for the others." Blue pulled a pen and paper from her gem, scribbling a quick message down. She dropped it on the coffee table on their way out, shutting the door behind them.

The walk was nice, and it gave Yellow a chance to calm herself down. She knew almost immediately where they were headed, but she let Blue lead the way and make her small detours, tugging at Yellow's hand whenever something caught her eye.

The two of them eventually ended up back at the place where they had first landed and automatically sat down on the grass, shoulder to shoulder as the last traces of sunlight slipped off the horizon.

After several long moments of silence, Yellow spoke. "I missed you too. I shouldn't have been avoiding you."

"It's okay. If we fight again, we'll know what _not_ to do."

She laughed, shaking her head.

"Why _were_ you avoiding me?" Blue asked more seriously. "I mean, besides the obvious."

Yellow shrugged. "Pearl habit." She risked a small glance sideways. "Or…Yellow Diamond Pearl habit, I suppose. If you don't do everything right the first time..."

"Oh," Blue murmured. "That makes sense. I'm sorry." She leaned gently against her shoulder and took her hand. "You don't have to be perfect here."

"I know," she said quietly.

"And I _want_ you to call me out when I do something I shouldn't, okay? I get stuck in my own head too sometimes."

"You got it," Yellow laughed weakly. "I'm not very good at keeping my opinions to myself anyway."

"Yeah," she said, "I like that. I always know where I stand with you."

A small smile crooked her lips, and she looked away. "Seriously?" she scoffed.

" _Yes_ , seriously," Blue insisted. "I've spent way too much time around gems that play mind games and tell lies to get what they want. I much prefer your way of doing things."

Yellow's cheeks flushed a slightly darker gold, and she was unable to formulate a reply.

"Though I will admit you could benefit from a little tact," Blue added lightly.

"Thanks," she muttered sarcastically.

"Mm-hm." She played with her fingers, cool skin reassuring against Yellow's. "How do you feel?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"A normal one, at least on Earth." She drummed her fingers lightly on Yellow's palm. "And you're meant to answer it."

Her fingers curled slightly. "I don't know, tired?"

"I meant emotionally."

"Can't I be emotionally tired as well?" she asked irritably.

"Now I can tell you're feeling better," Blue laughed. "Alright, I'll stop asking." She interlocked her hand with Yellow's firmly and drew it up to rest against her gem, a silent but unmistakable display of trust. "Let's stay out here tonight?"

Yellow nodded, pulling her hand back to mirror the gesture.

Blue smiled warmly and tugged Yellow down so they were lying on their backs, keeping their hands firmly clasped between them.

"I don't really see the point in stargazing."

"I figured. Can I convince you to do it anyway?"

"I'd say it's fairly likely. You already convinced me to run away to another galaxy and join your rebellion, after all."

" _Our_ rebellion."

"Yeah," Yellow said quietly, letting her head rest against Blue's shoulder. "Ours."


	10. Chapter 10

Yellow didn't mind stargazing too much. She let Blue point out all the stars she already knew the names of, trying not to laugh when the other Pearl blatantly skipped over the faint light of Homeworld in Earth's sky.

"I enjoyed traveling," Blue said after she ran out of stars and planets to talk about. "Not that it happened often, but it was more interesting than standing around in court."

"Everything is more interesting than that."

"Like you'd know," Blue returned lightly, flashing Yellow a quick smile to let her know she didn't mean anything by it.

Yellow gave her an unimpressed look. "I suppose you're the expert at standing around."

"Yes, I am. You're terrible at it; you got so _fidgety_ during meetings."

"I was not fidgety!" she said indignantly.

"You don't _actually_ fidget, but your face gives you away." She poked Yellow's cheek lightly. "You're doing it now too. Do you want to start walking back?"

"Not yet."

"Mm. I guess Steven's probably still asleep." Blue thought for a moment. "We could spar?"

"In the dark?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure it would make that much of a difference for me," Blue said, gesturing to her eyes.

"Your vision's _that bad?_ "

"No, no, I just mean it's limited to begin with, so I'm used to it."

"Alright," Yellow said warily. "So it's less of a handicap for you. That's fine." She pulled her sword from her gem. "I still think that whole thing is incredibly unnatural; you must have some kind of gem damage you don't know about. Single or dual wielding?"

"Single? I don't think either of us have enough practice for a proper spar with two swords."

"That's fair."

"And it is unnatural, by the way," Blue added, pulling her own sword out. "Pearl figured it out."

"What do you mean, Pearl figured it out?" Yellow demanded. "When?"

"Oh…a couple days ago? We talked." She let the sword fall lax at her side. "I would have told you right away if it was serious," she added, "but we took care of it, and I figured it could wait until we had sorted things out."

"Took care of _what?_ " she asked impatiently.

Blue averted her eyes. "The other Pearls…?" She tapped her gem lightly with one finger. "The ones I brought with me, I mean."

Yellow's eyes flicked to her gem, and then back up.

"Apparently you're not supposed to put other gems inside of you like that," she said, laughing nervously. "Who knew?"

"Me," Yellow said flatly, crossing her arms. "I told you there was something wrong with that."

"You did _not_ know, it just scared you," Blue huffed.

"That's beside the point."

"No, it's not."

The two of them held eye contact stubbornly for a moment and then Yellow shook her head, smirking. "Alright, fine," she said. "I didn't know, but seriously, it's common sense."

"I have plenty of common sense," Blue argued.

"You have very selective common sense," she retorted, taking a step forward. "Let me see your gem."

"My gem is _fine_ ," Blue said, halfheartedly batting Yellow's hands away. "Let's spar."

"Don't change the subject. I'm not pointing sharp objects at you two seconds after you tell me that you're endangering yourself with ridiculous notions of heroism again."

"It's not ridiculous," she replied, a note of warning in her voice.

"Well, I'm still not sparring with you." Yellow started to put her sword away, only to have Blue catch her wrist. She cringed slightly at the odd feeling of having the sword stopping halfway into her gem and let go so it could slide in completely.

"Yellow," Blue protested. "I really am fine, I took them out. Pearl's keeping them in the temple for now."

"You're not at all concerned that those things have been attacking you from the inside for thousands of years?"

"Of course I'm concerned!" Blue shot back. "I have no idea what it did to me, and I'm trying not to think about it too much because it's terrifying not knowing!"

Yellow blinked, going still.

"But whatever it is, it's already happened, so there's no point trying to be careful now." Her fingers loosened on Yellow's wrist. "Please don't treat me like I'm fragile, or I'm going to start believing that I am."

The other Pearl sighed, letting her hand slip back to her side. "Fragile is the last word I'd use to describe you." She paused. "Is there any other relevant information I should be aware of?"

Blue shook her head. "That's everything."

"Alright," she relented, reaching for her sword again. "One spar then."

"Really?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes."

"Thank you!" She backed up to give Yellow some space to draw her weapon. "If you don't mind, I'd like to try some new techniques; I could use a second opinion."

"Sure," Yellow agreed. "I'd appreciate your advice as well."

Blue smiled. "Of course."

"And do try to be a _little_ bit more careful with yourself."

She nodded happily. "I will."

"Good." Yellow dipped into a bow. "Let's begin."

* * *

One spar quickly turned into two, and then three.

After they had finished practicing and rested for a few minutes, the two of them made their way back, exchanging commentary on each other's technique.

"That one move, where you kind of slid sideways and nearly took off my nose—"

"I already apologized for that!" Yellow protested.

"No, I mean it was good. It wasn't as predictable as you usually are."

"Oh. Thanks, I guess." She walked up to the door of the barn. "It was mostly because you surprised me with the second sword."

"Did that actually work? I still don't quite have the hang of it."

"Your dual-wielding was subpar, but the idea of adding another weapon mid-battle was solid." She paused, thinking. "You could try something smaller."

"Maybe," Blue agreed. "I'll see what Pearl has in her collection."

Yellow nodded and pushed the door open. The lights were already on, which wasn't surprising, and she quickly located Peridot off to the left, miscellaneous supplies scattered in front of her.

The smaller gem looked up as they came in. "Uh, hi," she said nervously.

Blue immediately inserted herself in the space between them, standing directly in front of Yellow. She couldn't see Blue's expression, but Peridot looked about ready to start running.

"You…seem to be getting along again," the technician tried carefully.

Blue nodded curtly.

"Stars," Yellow muttered, rolling her eyes. She took Blue by the shoulders and moved her out of the way. "I don't need a shield."

"I know that. I'd just like to remind her that if she hurts you again, she answers to me."

"Well, you can stop now. She's already scared of you anyway."

"She is?" Blue asked curiously, tilting her head back to look at Yellow.

"I am _not!_ " Peridot said indignantly. "You're just…weird! I'm not used to Pearls like you."

Blue pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh. "Thank you."

"I don't think that was a compliment," Yellow said dryly. "That aside, can you give us a minute?"

"Oh, sure. Should I wait outside?"

Yellow nodded, giving her a small smile as Blue's hand brushed against hers on the way out. Once she had disappeared out the door, Yellow turned her attention back to Peridot. "I apologize for my behavior yesterday," she said crisply, shoulders straight as she tried to get through the awkward apology as quickly as possible.

Peridot jumped to her feet. "No, no, no, wait! Wait right there, don't move!" She started upstairs and stopped about halfway. "That's not an order, but I would greatly appreciate it if you don't ignore me like you usually do."

Yellow crossed her arms. "I'm waiting, aren't I?"

"Yes. Good." She disappeared up the ladder and hurried back down a few seconds later with a small box clutched in her hands. "Here," she declared, thrusting it towards Yellow. "This is for you."

"You're…giving me something?" she asked slowly, curious fingers halfway to the box but not quite making it there.

"As part of my apology."

"But _I'm_ the one apologizing."

"No, I am!" Peridot pressed it into her hand determinedly, launching into a flurry of nervous words. "Uh, that is to say…I sincerely apologize and I hope that we can come to a peaceable agreement in our future endeavors. Please accept this token of appreciation and understand that I in no way meant to devalue you or your work. You're actually—I mean—considering you never had formal training in engineering…" Her cheeks went blue with embarrassment. "You're quite skilled."

Yellow stared at her.

"Are you going to take the present or not?" she demanded, flustered. "It's rude to refuse gifts."

"I didn't know I was supposed to bring one," she said, looking down at the little box uncertainly. She hesitated, reaching up to snap the clips in her hair open. "I…don't have much, but if you'd like this decorative gear, I suppose—"

"What? No, don't bother." Peridot waved away the offer uncomfortably.

"You just said it was rude to refuse a gift!"

"Well, it seems worse to take a gift that's not yours," she muttered. "Those are from Steven, right?"

Yellow nodded.

"Then don't go offering them to other gems. They might be useless Earth junk, but they're yours."

"So I don't give you anything in return?"

"Just stop calling me by my Homeworld designation and we're even."

"I… Yes. Alright." Yellow stuck out her hand awkwardly. "Peridot."

The smaller gem smiled, relieved, and accepted the handshake. "Thanks."

"Am I also allowed to call you by the numerous aliases Amethyst and Steven use for you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so!"

Yellow snickered.

"Now are you going to open that or not?" Peridot demanded. "I spent a lot of time on it!"

Her laughter died in her throat. "You did?" she asked uncertainly.

"Well, it's not like—I mean—ugh, just open it already!"

"But—" Her fingers tightened on the box.

"You don't need to make a big deal out of it!"

"…Okay." A small, genuine smile curved her lips. "Thanks."

"You have to open it first, _then_ you say thanks."

She nodded dismissively and undid the ribbon, removing the lid to the box. Inside was a small, thin rectangular device. "Thanks," she repeated automatically. "What is this?"

"It plays music," Peridot replied, grabbing it from the box and turning it on. She attached it to a small boxy speaker that had been sitting next to her workspace. "Here." It began playing the CD they'd been listening to before. "I uploaded everything we could find around the temple and Steven's dad's van and a bunch of things from the humans' internet database before Pearl started telling me off so…" She shrugged, handing it back. "If you want me to get more, just say so. There's still some space left."

Yellow gazed down at the little player in her hand. "This is…" She shook her head quickly. "I mean, thank you. For doing this. I'm…sorry I assumed the worst of you. I've spent a large portion of my existence having to put up with Peridots who think they're better than me, so I wasn't inclined to believe you'd be any different."

"That's fair," Peridot said, flashing her an awkward smile.

Yellow returned it hesitantly. "You could show me how to fix the engine?"

She brightened. "Yes! I came up with some new modifications based off of your original changes that I think could increase efficiency as well."

"Okay." She carefully placed the music player back on the speaker and turned it on. "Do you mind if Blue comes in, or would that interfere with your concentration?"

"I told you, I'm not scared of her!"

"You're a terrible liar," Yellow said mildly, starting for the door. "You might as well just admit it."

"Be quiet!"

"No."

* * *

Yellow and Peridot worked on the ship well past the time the sun came up, while Blue helped with menial tasks and looked on in fascination.

"Need something?" she asked as Yellow crawled out from underneath the engine.

"Yes." The other Pearl wiped her hands on her shorts, smudging dirt onto the gray fabric. "I need one of those—" She made a large, boxy gesture with her hands. "—image cubes everyone seems to enjoy staring at. Peridot says I can't dismantle hers."

"It's called a television," Blue replied helpfully. "I'll see if there's one at the temple we can use."

"Thanks."

Blue headed for the door, only to collide with Garnet as soon as she stepped outside. "Oops, sorry!" she said quickly as Garnet caught her with one arm.

"It's okay." She smiled and pointed back over her shoulder as Blue straightened up. "We thought we'd all help out today."

"Good morning!" Steven called, running over ahead of Pearl and Amethyst.

"Good morning, Steven!" Blue said with a smile, before waving at the other two. "And good morning!"

"You're all here?" Yellow asked, appearing behind Blue's shoulder with tools still in hand.

"Hey, there you are!" Amethyst grinned. "Get all the singing and crying out of the way?"

"The what?" She wrinkled her nose. "I haven't _cried_ , and I certainly haven't sung anything."

"Aww, c'mon, you're not a real Crystal Gem without the singing and crying! Right, Peri?" she asked, leaning sideways so she could see the other gem.

Peridot, who had just popped her head out to see what the commotion was, blushed. "No comment!"

"See? It's tradition," Amethyst laughed. "You're missing out."

"I haven't sung anything either," Blue said. "Should I?"

"She's not serious," Pearl said exasperatedly. "Amethyst, stop teasing them. There are no requirements for being a Crystal Gem besides believing in Rose's doctrine."

"What is this doctrine?" Yellow asked. "You keep mentioning it, but I've never heard of any such thing."

"It was the cornerstone of the rebellion! Of course Homeworld wouldn't talk about it." Pearl seemed about to launch into another colorful recollection of the war, but Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder and she stopped short.

"You've already met the requirements," Garnet said warmly.

"Really?" Blue asked.

"Really." She smiled. "Though there will be singing eventually."

Yellow snorted disbelievingly. "Not on my part."

"We'll see."

"I can help you write a song," Steven volunteered.

"I think it sounds fun," Blue agreed.

" _I'm not singing._ "

Garnet smiled, ignoring her indignation. "You seem to be feeling alright."

"I'm fine," she said quickly, straightening up. "I apologize for the trouble."

"Don't worry about it." She glanced over Yellow's shoulder to where the music was playing. "I see Peridot gave you your present already."

Yellow nodded.

"We all helped."

"If by 'helped' you mean everyone argued over what music to include!" Peridot shouted from inside.

"That's what I meant," Garnet called back.

Yellow and Blue exchanged a brief look, both hiding smiles.

"Anyway, were you going somewhere?" Pearl asked.

"Oh," Blue said, "I was just coming to ask you where I could get a TV. They need some more parts for the ship."

"I'm sure Amethyst has a spare lying around somewhere."

"Hey, don't just volunteer my stuff!" Amethyst protested. "But yeah, I do," she added, leaning past the two Pearls. "Yo, P-dot!"

"What?" she asked, poking her head out again.

"Come show me and Steven what kinda thing you need!"

"Just a minute!" Peridot disappeared for a moment and then slipped out, dusting off her uniform. "Okay. Yellow, if you could finish putting that together—"

"On it." She started back towards the ship.

"Mind if I join you?" Pearl asked.

"You?" Yellow asked skeptically.

"Yes, _me_ ," she replied, sounding affronted. "I've had to focus my attentions elsewhere as of late, but I'm quite well-versed in engineering myself."

"Since when?"

"Since long before you were even made!" Pearl huffed.

Yellow crossed her arms. "I've yet to actually see proof of that."

"Then if you'll kindly hand over that wrench…"

"You haven't been on Homeworld for millennia; you can't possibly be up to date on technology!"

"Goodness, you really do sound like Peridot sometimes."

Yellow stared at her blankly, her grip on the wrench loosening just enough for Pearl to tug it out of her hand. "I do not sound like _Peridot._ "

"You kind of do," Blue chimed in. "Sometimes. I think it's because you're both from Yellow Diamond's court."

"I…can't dispute that," she said, wrinkling her nose.

"Yellow," Pearl called, already inside the ship. "Was this arrangement your idea or hers? It's one of the most streamlined repairs I think you could manage with such limited equipment."

"Both," Yellow replied, heading over. "Have you worked with this kind of engine before?"

"It's not so different from what they had in my day."

She slipped inside as well, already explaining their plans to catch Pearl up.

In the meantime, Garnet beckoned Blue over to one side of the barn to sit down. "Let's leave them to it."

She nodded, smoothing down her shirt as she sat. She listened to Yellow and Pearl exchanging tips inside the ship wistfully.

"You could learn," Garnet said.

She looked back at her, startled. "I-I suppose I'd like to, but there's no time for it. Not right now, anyway."

"After the rebellion," she replied, nodding. "It wouldn't be hard for you."

"Thanks." Blue couldn't help but think that _after the rebellion_ was far too tenuous and uncertain for her to be making plans for it. She smiled up at her, shaking away the thoughts. "It's okay. I just wish I had time to try all of these new things on Earth right now. You do everything so differently here."

"We do," she agreed.

"It's amazing." Blue pushed her hair back slightly. "I just have to prioritize."

"Pearl says you've made a lot of progress in training," Garnet said. "She's got you dual-wielding already?"

"We're both trying it," she replied, nodding. "I'm not sure it suits me, though. I'm working on figuring out my own style."

"Let me know if you want a little extra practice sometime," she said with a smile. "I enjoyed sparring with you."

Blue smirked. "You were going easy on me."

"Soon I won't have to. You're unpredictable."

"To someone who's half Sapphire?"

"You're halfway unpredictable," she said good-humoredly. "And, for the record, I don't use future vision constantly when I'm fighting. It gets to be distracting, especially with gems like you."

The compliment made Blue genuinely happy and she clasped her hands in her lap. "Thanks. I'll take you up on the offer soon then."

"Good. If you want fusion practice too, you just have to ask."

"W-What?"

"You seemed interested."

"…Yes," she admitted quietly, "but I don't know. Everything I know about fusion comes from Homeworld—and even the unofficial reports never wanted to talk about it much, not the way it's done here and _definitely_ not between different gem types."

"It's very different," Garnet agreed. She paused, looking at Blue closely for a moment. "There's nothing inherently wrong about fusing within your type either. It's about the experience." She looked down at her hands briefly. "Existing together, not just because you need to win a fight."

"It sounds nice," Blue murmured. "I just can't imagine it."

"That's okay. Take your time." Garnet glanced back towards the others for a moment. "I'm pretty sure you'll like it."

* * *

Pearl, Yellow, and Peridot spent most of the morning working on the ship and engaging in conversation that toed the line between academic discussion and petty bickering. Meanwhile, the other four kept each other company and played games nearby while discussing strategy, until the others reached a stopping point in their project.

"Training at two o'clock sharp, Blue," Pearl said. "Amethyst, come help me find some more parts at the Kindergarten, please."

"Gotcha."

"Steven, I require your assistance in locating more information on Earth machinery," Peridot announced.

"Sure thing!"

"I'll come too," Garnet said, picking Steven up and setting him atop her hair.

Blue watched the others go and wandered over to where Yellow was sitting with her back to the side of the pod. "It's working out well?" she asked lightly, sliding down to sit beside her.

"It is."

"I'm glad."

Yellow nodded, twirling a tool Blue didn't recognize between her fingers. "What do you want to do until training?"

"I'm not sure. Was there something you wanted to do?"

"Not right now." Yellow gave her a long look. "You were talking about fusion again," she commented.

"Oh! A little," Blue replied, looking down at the tools scattered around them. "It's interesting."

"You want to try it."

"What?" Blue asked, startled. "No, we—we were just talking."

"It's fine if you do," Yellow said with a shrug. "It seems like your kind of thing."

"I don't know…Garnet seems so content, and the others enjoy it too—I'm just curious."

"Might as well try it then," Yellow said dismissively.

Her cheeks went a dark blue. "Really?"

"It's not like you'll get in trouble for it. And I'm sure one of them would be willing to give it a shot, maybe even Pearl."

"Wait, what—oh." Her voice faltered. "I guess so." She rearranged her bangs nervously. "You…wouldn't be interested then?" she asked in a small voice.

It took a moment for her to realize Blue meant interested in _fusing with her_ , and when she did her whole body locked up. "Me?"

"It's okay if you aren't!" Blue said quickly, waving nervous hands between them. "I just thought that if I'm going to try it, I'd rather it be with you first. I'm sorry, that was—I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine," Yellow managed faintly.

"I could have at least timed it better."

"It's fine," she repeated.

Blue nodded, averting her eyes.

"You want to fuse with me," Yellow said, the inflection in her voice not quite right, somewhere between a question and a statement.

"Only if you want to," she said with an almost smile.

"I don't even know how fusion _works_ ," she replied, voice strained.

"That's okay, I don't either."

"You're not making a very convincing argument."

"If you give me a minute to think, I'm sure I could hold up my end of the debate."

"It's not a debate," Yellow muttered, touching her gem self-consciously.

Blue blushed. "Does that…mean you want to?"

"It means I'll think about it," she corrected her, and then hesitated. "Can I think about it?"

"Yes. Yes, of course!" she replied, relief washing over her face. "Take as long as you need."

"Okay."

"You're allowed to say no."

"Got it." Yellow nudged Blue's hand open to lace their fingers together. "You too."

"I'm the one that asked."

"I know."

"…Thanks." A small smile crept to her lips. "Sorry I threw that at you all of a sudden."

"I'm starting to get used to it," Yellow said wryly. "You really are a very strange Pearl."

"Thank you," Blue said brightly. "You're very strange too."

"That's still not a compliment."

"Isn't it?"

Yellow smirked. "If you say so."

Neither of them brought up fusion again that day, but Yellow was surprised by how easily she began to accept the suggestion once the initial shock wore off. She was a Pearl, and she wasn't meant to fuse. She'd never even considered it. And fusion—this kind of fusion, on Earth—was intimate in a way that ought to scare her, but her sense of unease was soon overtaken by a cautious curiosity. What _was_ fusion like?

Blue wanted to try it, which warmed her to the idea more than it should have, so she ignored that and tried to look at it logically. Fusing wouldn't hurt either of them, it could give them a tactical advantage, and if it didn't work they could just move on, right? There was a small, nagging voice in the back of her head that kept questioning what good could come from a fusion of two Pearls, but she was sick of letting Homeworld tell her what to do and how to think. They were galaxies away and they'd already broken hundreds of rules.

And honestly, it felt nice, being someone's first choice. Being Blue's specifically, and knowing that there was some quality within her that prompted such an honor, especially after spending so much time feeling alone.

She still wanted to think about it more before she said anything, but there was never really a question what her answer would be.


	11. Chapter 11

Blue had honestly been expecting everything to get incredibly strange and awkward with Yellow after her sudden request. However, Yellow didn't seem to be keeping her distance or treating her any differently—if anything, something between them had grown warmer, more comfortable, and that was a relief.

Blue took to spending some of her own free time in the barn as well, keeping Yellow company and practicing her weapon summoning when the other Pearl was too busy to do much talking. She felt like she was getting somewhere with it, though she had yet to actually manage to pull anything from her gem besides the odd collection of weapons and other items she had stored there. She was starting to form an unfortunate habit of concentrating _too much_ and sending various things flying across the barn, which put her on the receiving end of three different exasperated looks—even Peridot had long stopped getting jumpy about having pointy objects flying towards her.

"Sorry!" she called as her sword embedded itself in the wall behind Yellow, who saw it coming and ducked well out of the way.

Yellow yanked it out nonchalantly and tossed it back to her. "Have you actually accomplished anything, or is this part of some elaborate secret plan to take the enemy by surprise?"

"I'll get it right soon," she replied seriously. "Though that _could_ be interesting."

"Don't, it'll look ridiculous," she said. "I don't suppose you considered taking all that junk out _before_ practicing?" Yellow asked dryly, picking up a few more stray objects and handing them over.

"She needs to learn to differentiate," Pearl called distractedly. "And so do you, whenever you get around to practicing."

"I'm practicing some," she said dismissively, "but I've got two swords already and unlike some Pearls I like to be _sensible_ and focus on the weapons I know will be available to me."

"Yes, I'm so glad you're the sensible half of this rebellion."

"If you two are finished, could you please pass me that cord over there?" Pearl asked.

Yellow picked it up and held it out for Pearl to take, looking at Blue suspiciously. "You aren't keeping anything dangerous in there, are you?"

"Of course not," Blue answered, putting everything back. "I learned my lesson. It's just easier to hold onto most of the supplies instead of digging through that mess you had every time you ask for something."

"You're not a storage cabinet, Blue."

Blue huffed. "Just because you don't like carrying things around all the time doesn't mean I can't. I think it's convenient."

"Yes, if I'm ever desperately in need of hair bows in the middle of the rebellion, I'll know who to ask."

She blushed. "Steven gave them to me in case I wanted more variety."

"Homeworld's never going to take you seriously," Yellow said with a smirk.

"Oh, I'm sure they will." Blue flashed a sharp smile. "Anyway, I can take a break for a bit. Do you need help?"

"We've got it covered. Just try not to stab anything."

"Okay," she replied. "I'll go stand in the corner and look pretty for you."

"You have a warped sense of humor, Blue."

"You like it."

"Occasionally." She disappeared back into the ship. "Come on, I'll show you how this works."

"Really?" Blue hurried over, crawling into the engine room and looking around, wide-eyed.

"You're plenty capable of picking up some basics." Yellow motioned for Blue to join her off to the left. "Minor repairs and, stars, I'm definitely showing you how to pilot this thing because you were _horrible_ at it last time."

"Thanks," she said warmly. "For teaching me," she added when Yellow gave her an odd look.

"Yeah." The other Pearl stopped for a moment, looking like she wanted to say something, but she quickly turned back to the machinery. "We can go train some more after this part is done," she offered.

"That sounds great. I could help you out with a few things Pearl mentioned?"

Yellow fought back the instinctive defensiveness that rose to the surface and nodded. "Sounds like a fair trade."

Blue smiled. "Same here."

* * *

Once they had finished up, the two of them headed to the arena to get in their extra practice before the scheduled training with Pearl.

"What are we working on specifically?" Yellow asked as they arrived, leading the way up the steps.

"Making you less predictable," Blue replied, catching up and keeping pace with her.

Yellow shot a halfhearted glare at her. "And you say I need more tact."

"Sorry," she laughed. "It's not that you're _bad_ at fighting, you just don't always…connect? You analyze everything a lot, so you're really good at memorizing what to do. But you think _too_ much about what you're doing and what order you know it works in, so you end up telegraphing your movements."

"Okay," she said slowly. "So how do you recommend doing it?"

"Oh!" Blue looked a little surprised. "Well, I always think of it like dancing." She pulled her sword from her gem and ran through a few basic maneuvers, flowing smoothly between each movement. "You should try it."

"Swordfighting is _not_ dancing," Yellow replied, crossing her arms. "And if you expect me to dance, then you're going to be severely disappointed."

"Hmm, I really do think it would help though, now that you mention it. The movements are similar, in a way."

"Maybe to you, but I don't dance."

"That's not true," Blue argued. "You've danced in the courts before, I've seen you."

"Well, I don't make a habit of it when it's not an order. I'm not good at all of that fancy, unnecessary—" She stopped and lowered her eyes. "I mean, that's not what I was for."

"Well, you're not 'for' this either, so humor me?" Blue put her sword away and circled behind her, pulling her arms up by the wrists to get her into position, and then took her place beside her. "You know this one, right?" she asked, spinning away, light on her feet.

"Blue," she said, dropping her arms, "I'm not going to do this, it's pointless."

"Oh, come on," she said exasperatedly, stopping to walk back over. "It won't crack you to try it once."

"I said no."

"Yes, you're getting very good at that." Blue waited expectantly. "Look, I'm not going to _make_ you dance, but I think it's worth trying."

" _Why?_ "

"Why _not?_ "

"I don't like being a pretty spectacle," Yellow said, crossing her arms.

"Neither do I," Blue replied.

Yellow's shoulders hitched a little higher. "At least you were good at it," she muttered.

Blue gave her a long, searching look. "This is one of your perfectionist things," she said finally. "I'm the only one here, Yellow, and I don't care if you fall flat on your face."

"I'm not _that_ bad!" she shot back defensively.

"Prove it," she challenged.

Yellow opened her mouth to reply, then shut it quickly, looking away.

"What?" Blue asked, her voice softening.

"I thought she'd shatter me for it," she muttered, fists clenching. "Next to you and whichever of White's Pearls was there, I wasn't…" She stopped, shaking her head. "I wasn't made for that, and it was obvious."

"Yellow…"

"I know she's not here—"

"No, I get it," Blue interrupted. "I still feel like Blue Diamond is watching me sometimes." She gave Yellow a faint smile. "We'd both be shattered on sight if they saw us now."

Yellow shivered slightly, then drew herself up decisively and held out one hand. "Then this isn't going to make any difference."

She nodded, reaching for Yellow's hand. "You're sure?"

"Yellow Diamond is a huge egotistical clod and she _doesn't own me anymore._ Dance with me."

"Oh, it's _with_ now," Blue said with a smile.

"You know what I mean."

She just grinned and pulled Yellow to stand in front of her, arms coming to rest along Yellow's like a shadow with her fingers lightly woven between the other Pearl's. She lifted one in an easy, flowing motion, out and then back. "Okay. Relax a little." She moved their opposite arms, drawing their hands in just short of Yellow's gem. "You're alright. You know this one." Blue nudged her right foot slightly. "Step forward, turn—"

"You don't have to narrate," Yellow said as she spun carefully, Blue still close behind her. "I remember it."

"I know." Blue let her lead as her leg extended in a perfect line. "How?"

"I just do," Yellow replied, tilting her head quizzically. "It's a list of steps, that's all. Any Pearl can do it."

She laughed a little. "I've never done it like that." Blue let go and circled around Yellow, falling into other familiar patterns with ease. "We think differently." She pirouetted and then drifted back towards Yellow, taking her hands again but from the front. "Which is good."

Yellow watched as Blue led her forward, carefully moving with her as she danced. "What do you do then?"

"I remember the feel of it," the other Pearl answered. "You remember it like data. So—" She moved in close. "—break it down into steps and rearrange it."

"Rearrange it?"

"Yes." Blue spun under Yellow's arm, then smiled. "That's what you do when you're fixing the ship, right? You put the little pieces together different ways for different results."

"I'll give you credit for attempting an analogy between dancing and engineering."

"It's a good analogy," she replied stubbornly. "I'm just trying to say it's the same with fighting. You know how to do all the little things Pearl's taught us, but you're bad at putting them in an order that makes sense for _you._ Battles aren't predictable, so you can't be either."

"…Okay, that's a decent approach."

"Thank you." Blue let go and dipped into a curtsy. "Try it."

"I lost track—am I trying it with the dancing, the engineering, or the fighting?"

"The _dancing_." She yanked lightly on Yellow's shirt. "Stop being difficult."

"Fine," she replied, "I'll try."

Blue watched as she considered it for several long moments, brow furrowed between closed eyes.

"Okay," Yellow declared finally. She got into position and began moving in precise, fragmented steps. The movements gradually flowed together as she danced, still a little uneven and hesitant when she broke away from familiar patterns but unrelenting as she continued putting together new steps.

"That's great," Blue said happily, slipping easily into a place beside Yellow to mirror her dancing, trailing just a couple seconds behind her. "I like it."

"How are you _doing that?_ " Yellow asked, mild frustration lacing her voice. "You make it look easy, and you've literally never seen this before."

"Sorry," she laughed, "I may not be able to keep up with your technology skills just yet, but I've got a lot of practice with dancing."

"I can see that." She drew Blue in quickly with one arm, surprising her.

The other Pearl smiled, resting her free hand lightly on Yellow's waist. "It's strange dancing without my old skirt," she commented. "And being able to see what I'm doing, for that matter."

"I bet." She spun them in place. "You still like it though, after all of that?"

"I do. It's…calming." Blue let her eyes slip shut, allowing Yellow to lead her. "We should do this more often."

"Don't count on it."

"I suppose there isn't much time for it when we have an invasion _and_ a rebellion to prepare for."

"I meant I'm not particularly interested in adding dance practice to the growing list of things we do on Earth." She smirked, lifting Blue up by the waist and then releasing her so she could fall into a series of leaps.

"If you hated it as much as you pretend to, you wouldn't still be dancing with me," Blue scoffed as she floated back within reach, taking the lead once more and dipping Yellow gracefully.

"Pearl, we're here!" a familiar voice called, startling them.

Blue jumped and very nearly dropped Yellow, catching her just before she hit the ground and ignoring the glare directed her way. "Hello, Steven!" she called as she pulled Yellow up. "Pearl's not here yet!" She blinked in surprise as she noticed another person standing next to him. "Um…"

"Oh, this is Connie!" Steven pulled the newcomer over to where the two Pearls were standing. "Connie, this is Blue and Yellow; they're the Pearls from Homeworld I was telling you about."

"Nice to meet you," Connie said with a shy smile, waving with the hand that wasn't currently occupied by a large sword.

Blue automatically slipped into a polite bow. "Nice to meet you too, Connie."

"You're not supposed to bow," Yellow said, pulling her up by the collar. "Nice to meet you."

Connie, who had just started to bow in return, blushed and straightened up.

Brushing Yellow's hand away, Blue smiled. "Sorry, old habit. I'm working on it."

"Were you guys dancing?" Steven asked, unable to hold the question back any longer.

"Oh, um, yes?" Blue answered.

"That's awesome! Sorry we interrupted, I can't wait to see what you look like when you fuse!"

"Fuse?" she asked faintly.

"You _were_ going to fuse, right?" Steven asked, confused.

"It was just a demonstration," Yellow cut in, flustered hands smoothing out the front of her shirt. "We're not fusing yet."

Blue's face burned with a dark blush. "I…kind of forgot you always dance to fuse here, actually. Sorry," she added, eyes darting to Yellow. "I wasn't trying to—"

"I know that," she said briskly, looking mildly embarrassed.

"Well, when you do, promise you'll come show me, okay?" Steven said.

The two of them nodded.

"Great!" he exclaimed. "Anyway," he added, sparing them the trouble of changing the subject, "Connie's feeling better now, so we can all practice together today!"

"That sounds wonderful," Blue said quickly, face still flushed. "Everyone says you're an excellent swordfighter, Connie."

"Oh, um, I do my best," Connie replied, looking pleased. "I'm nowhere near as good as Pearl is."

"Over five thousand years of practice gives one a slight advantage," Pearl said lightly, coming down the steps silently behind them. "Connie is doing very well, especially for someone who started so recently."

"Thank you," she said, smiling. "Hello, Pearl."

"Hello, Connie. I hope you don't mind having the others here today; my time has been stretched rather thin lately."

"I don't mind at all!" Connie said quickly. "I look forward to working with you," she added, turning to Blue and Yellow. "And I'd just like to say that I'm completely on board with anti-authoritarian movements like yours, so I'll help in any way I can!"

"Thanks," Blue replied, a little surprised. "And I look forward to it as well."

"Yes, there's only so many times you can lose to Pearl before it just gets annoying," Yellow agreed.

"If you'd prefer to teach _yourself_ swordfighting…" Pearl began.

"It was a compliment!"

"Your compliments sound suspiciously like insults."

"You get used to it," Blue said lightly.

"I'm beginning to," Pearl sighed. "Well, since you're so eager for a change of pace, Yellow, you can spar with Connie first."

Yellow glanced sideways at the small human uncertainly. "Sure."

"You don't need to worry; she's been practicing with my holograms quite extensively. Just be careful."

"She's a human," Yellow said, wrinkling her nose. "Don't they bleed?"

"Well, yes, but unless you're actively trying to wound her, I don't think it's going to be a problem."

"If you're sure," she replied doubtfully.

"I can hold my own," Connie said confidently. "I know I'm not as strong as a gem, but that doesn't mean I can't fight! Oh, but just so you know, generally the most important human parts are in the head and the chest."

"I'll…avoid those."

"Okay." She gripped her sword firmly at her side. "Do you have a spear like Pearl does?"

"Not yet." She pulled her swords from her gem. "I'd like to practice using dual-wielding, if that's acceptable."

"Oh, definitely!"

"And you fight with a Quartz sword," Yellow commented.

"Yeah, Steven lets me use it for practice," Connie said with a smile. "If you want to try it out later, you can."

She gave the pink sword a long look. "No, but I appreciate the offer. Blue would probably like it though, if only for the symbolism of a Pearl using a Quartz weapon."

"Only if it's alright with Connie," Blue said quickly, blushing.

"Of course," she agreed. "It _does_ sound like an excellent symbolic gesture. And it's just a really cool sword anyway."

"Definitely," she replied happily.

"Um, are you ready to start?" Connie asked, turning back to Yellow.

Yellow looked her up and down once more. "Yes," she declared.

Connie bowed to her politely, and Yellow returned the gesture quickly. They both readied their swords, settling into a proper stance.

"Whenever you're ready," Yellow said.

Connie moved fast, not giving Yellow time to think before she was assaulted with numerous strikes. She blocked each one as it came, backpedaling slightly and holding her ground there as she planned out her next move. There was surprising power behind Connie's attacks and while she hadn't exhibited any particularly impressive strategies so far, she seemed to be trying to get a feel for her opponent's abilities first, which was an excellent strategy in and of itself.

As soon as Yellow saw a gap in the strikes, she pivoted, one sword slicing the air in front of her opponent as the other came up to guard against the larger weapon. Connie countered immediately, not leaving any part of her body vulnerable as she fended off quick strikes from two swords.

The match continued on, the two of them exchanging techniques, each of them picking up their opponent's methods and then using them in retaliation whenever they had a chance.

"You're doing great!" Steven shouted from the sidelines. "You can do it!"

"Who are you cheering for?" Pearl asked.

"Both of them!"

Pearl placed a hand on his head fondly.

"They're a good match," Blue said, chin resting on her hand as she watched.

"They are," she agreed. "I've noticed Yellow's moving a little more naturally now as well; I assume that's your doing?"

She blushed. "I didn't do much. She just needed a new perspective."

"Don't sell yourself short." Pearl touched her shoulder. "I think you're both becoming excellent fighters."

"That's thanks to you, really."

"I can certainly be persuaded to take some credit," she said lightly, "but I stand by my original statement."

Blue laughed as Steven climbed over Pearl to give her a hug. "Thanks."

The match eventually wound down, Yellow and Connie both beginning to tire. Connie, in a last ditch attempt to turn the tides in her favor, slammed the hilt of her sword onto Yellow's hand, making her drop one of her swords, more out of surprise than pain. Connie took advantage of the brief opening and got up close to her, sword stopping just short of her gem.

Yellow froze, not flinching. "Your victory," she conceded, letting her arms drop to her sides.

The focused intensity on Connie's face faded into a friendly expression. "I didn't think I'd win," she said, breathing hard. She relaxed, setting her sword down heavily. "You're really good."

"Thanks," Yellow muttered, one hand finding her gem and running careful fingers over it. "I apologize for underestimating you."

"It's okay, it's pretty useful when your opponents think you're not going to be able to put up much of a fight." She smiled. "I bet that'll work for you when you go back to Homeworld too."

"It will." She stuck out her right hand abruptly. "It was a pleasure to spar with you."

"Oh! Um, you too," Connie replied, shaking Yellow's hand with her own taped fingers. "Thank you."

"That was excellent, both of you," Pearl declared, walking over to them. "We'll discuss specifics later; you can take a break while Blue and I spar. Connie, make sure you drink plenty of water."

"Yes, ma'am!" She went over and joined Steven, who presented her a water bottle with a sweeping gesture.

"For you, Miss Knight."

Connie laughed and accepted it. "Thank you, fellow knight."

"Good job!" Blue congratulated her. "And you too," she added as Yellow joined them. She stood and pulled her own sword from her gem. "The dancing helped."

"Hardly," she scoffed. "Go show Pearl what you've been practicing."

"I plan on it."

"Ready, Blue?" Pearl called.

"Coming!" She hurried over, sinking into a bow as she reached Pearl. "I'm ready."

"Then let's begin," Pearl said, returning the bow. "You're not dual wielding?"

"It's not for me. I've been working on something else."

She smiled a little at the reply. "Alright, let's see it then."

Yellow looked on with mild interest as the other two began their match, Steven and Connie giggling beside her over a joke she hadn't understood.

"We have some snacks if you want them," Connie offered her a few moments later, holding up some slices of fruit.

"No."

"Yellow doesn't really like eating either," Steven said.

"Oh, okay." She popped the fruit in her mouth. "Are all Pearls like that?"

"No, Blue likes the stuff you don't have to swallow," Yellow replied. "Though I'm not sure how accurate a sample size of three is going to be."

"We could ask some of the other Pearls on Homeworld," Steven said.

"I think they'll have enough problems without adding digestion to the list."

The other two laughed, turning their attention back to the sparring match before them.

Blue was throwing a flurry of attacks in Pearl's direction, which were blocked with relative ease but definitely seemed to be requiring a fair amount of focus from Pearl. Changing tack quickly, Blue spun around with a kick and used the brief blind spot to pull a knife out of her gem. She came around to face Pearl again, feinted right, and raised her other hand just as Pearl dodged, the tip of the small blade coming within an inch of her gem.

Pearl's eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed, her hand flashing up and knocking Blue's arm aside roughly. She instinctively slammed her fist against Blue's head as hard as she could, knocking her to the ground and thrusting her blade down, catching herself mere millimeters from Blue's chest. Realization dawned on her and she quickly withdrew her sword, looking pale.

"Oh. Oh dear, I'm sorry, that was incredibly unprofessional of me." She knelt down beside Blue, helping her sit up and leaning in to see if she was injured. "I…wasn't thinking clearly. I hope that didn't hurt too badly; I can take you to Rose's fountain if—"

"I'm okay," Blue interrupted, a grin making its way to her face as she rubbed her head. "Did I actually _surprise_ you with that?"

Pearl's cheeks flushed. "You certainly did, yes," she managed. "Where did you get the knife?"

"It was in the kitchen. You said I was welcome to any of your weaponry, right?"

"Well, yes, but that one's intended to be used for _cooking_ , not combat," Pearl said, lifting the blade from Blue's fingers.

"Sorry, I didn't realize cooking required weapons."

"…I'll explain later. You came up with that move on your own?"

She nodded. "You said we should find our own techniques."

"Which you did," Pearl said, beginning to smile. "That was excellent. You'll need to work on it, of course, but you're onto something there." She gripped the handle of the knife, getting a feel for it. "I have some daggers in my collection," she added. "Would you like to pick one or two out to try?"

Blue's eyes lit up. "That would be great!"

"We'll do that tonight then," she decided. "If you're all up to it, we should continue training."

After a few more rounds of sparring, switching up partners and even doing a two-on-two match, the training session came to an end. Pearl hurried Steven and Connie back to the temple, fretting that it was nearly Steven's dinnertime and Connie was getting picked up in approximately ten minutes so they couldn't delay. Blue and Yellow lingered behind as they usually did, doing a few final drills to wind down and then walking back over to the steps to sit down.

"You were great today," Blue said warmly. "I want you to show me how to do that one—" She made a slashing motion in the air to demonstrate what she meant.

"Sure."

"You have to admit the dancing helped."

"I'm admitting it, but I'm still not interested in actual dancing."

"I guess I can't complain about that," she laughed. She paused for a moment, looking at Yellow. "You are pretty, by the way," she added.

"What?"

"You always say you weren't made to be pretty, but that doesn't mean you aren't."

"Well, I _am_ a Pearl; there are certain standards."

"Yellow," she said sternly.

"What?"

"That was meant to be a compliment. Just accept it."

She huffed, crossing her arms self-consciously. "Fine. The same goes for you, but I still think it's strange to be complimenting gems like us on appearances."

"Thanks," Blue said brightly, tucking her hair back.

Yellow's eyes darted briefly to Blue and then down to her feet, biting the corner of her lip. "Yes," she said finally.

"Yes what?"

"Yes, your flattery is effective despite the complete lack of subtlety, and yes, I'll fuse with you."

Blue froze, eyes going wide. "Y-You…really…?"

"Yes."

"You don't want more time to think about it?"

"We don't have time," Yellow said plainly. "Look, Blue, we're headed into who-knows-what and it's pretty much inevitable that one or both of us will have to fuse in the near future, so—" She broke off, making a small frustrated noise. "I just mean we should get it over with."

She winced. "Get it over with?"

"Yes. No. I didn't mean to say it like that." She scratched at her left shoulder, looking uncomfortable. "Just—It shouldn't be in the middle of a fight! It wouldn't make logistical sense; it would put everyone in danger if we didn't know what we were doing. And I don't want…"

Blue waited patiently, though Yellow just looked annoyed with her for not saying anything.

"I don't want the first time to be like that," she finished. "It should just be us."

Blue nodded, taking a deep breath. "So you do _want_ to, right?" she asked anxiously.

Yellow smiled faintly and held out a hand. "Yes. Do _you_ still want to?"

She laughed a little in relief, ignoring Yellow's hand and pulling her into a hug. " _Yes_ ," she said earnestly. "Yes, yes, of course I want to. Thank you."

"…Yeah. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Do you—Should we try it now? Is that what you meant? Or—"

"Yes, sure, if you're done trying to squeeze me to death."

"Sorry," Blue laughed, letting go reluctantly. "How do we do this?"

"You're asking _me?_ It was your idea; surely you have some kind of plan."

"Yellow, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to plan how you fuse."

"I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to fuse at all."

"Good point." She paused for a moment, considering. "I guess we should just…dance together? Something simple? I know the Crystal Gems are flashier about it, but since we haven't done this before…"

"Okay," Yellow said slowly, looking flustered. "That works."

"You're going to need to calm down."

"I _am_ calm."

"Right," she said disbelievingly. She lifted one hand to join Yellow's and then settled the other on her waist. "If you're not sure about this—"

"I said I was sure! Stop second-guessing me, Blue; you're making me more nervous than I already am."

"I thought you were calm?"

"I am calm and _very, very nervous_ , now please stop talking about fusing and get to it." She placed her free hand on Blue's shoulder.

Blue laughed, shaking her head. "Okay."

"Do you think we should inform the Crystal Gems before we try this in case something goes wrong?" Yellow asked suddenly before they could begin.

"What do you think is going to go wrong?" she asked, looking mildly alarmed.

"I don't know, I've never done this before!"

"Well, neither have I. It'll be fine."

"I hope you realize that's not at all reassuring."

"It's the thought that counts."

"No it isn't. Stop picking up all these pointless Earth sayings."

"I don't think you get to judge me when you're the one who's addicted to this planet's music." She paused. "Maybe we should get some music now."

"Don't bother," Yellow said exasperatedly. "Let's just get started."

"Okay." Blue squeezed her hand. "We can stop right away if we don't like it."

Yellow nodded. "You're ready?"

"I'm ready. Thanks for doing this with me."

"You already said that."

"I know." She smiled, a tinge of anxiety hidden in her eyes. "I just…wanted to say it again. You're important to me."

Yellow's shoulders relaxed slightly, her expression warming. "I'm starting to think you're less interested in fusing and more interested in standing around being saccharine. But," she added in a quieter voice, "thank you. You too."

Blue nodded, a little misty-eyed. "Let's dance?"

"Let's dance."

A warm light bloomed from their gems, engulfing the two of them before they could take one step.


	12. Chapter 12

The light faded quickly, leaving one gem standing in their place.

"Oh. We—I fused—and—this is great!" She twirled unsteadily in place, hands coming up to touch the pair of gems on her chest, side by side. "That was so _easy._ " She took a deep breath."Is this okay? This is okay. This is _nice._ "

She examined her body carefully—she wasn't sure what she'd expected, but she didn't feel much different physically than Blue and Yellow did when they were separate. She had no extra limbs like they'd seen on Opal; fusing had just made them _bigger_ like it did for soldiers on Homeworld. It was a strange sensation, knowing Pearls could exist like this, that _she_ could exist like this. She wasn't used to it, but it was reassuring. Pearls were gems like any other, and they could experience fusion too.

She had kept the leotard they'd worn on Homeworld though, which was unsettling until she realized the diamond was gone from the front of the soft green cloth. There were new things too—her hair fell to her chin similar to Blue's, but her bangs were kept short and out of the way. Meanwhile, the sheer fabric that adorned every Pearl was looped loosely around her shoulders and floated down on either side of her, flaring out elegantly as it continued. She flicked her fingers over the ends curiously, watching it flutter before moving her hands to the tops of her matching green stockings and laughing to herself. There were _parts_ of their old outfits that her components missed sometimes, and it was nice to have that familiarity in such a new situation.

"What am I supposed to do?" she wondered aloud. Should she show the Crystal Gems? Or should this first time be private? She liked both ideas. Maybe she'd spend a little more time out here before she went back. But if the fusion didn't last, then she'd be disappointed she didn't get to say hello to Steven, like she promised. Determinedly, she turned and walked towards the warp pad.

Walking was…more of a challenge than she'd expected. She could feel both her components automatically trying to move the way they were used to, but the two combined created a strange, uneven mixture. Stumbling a few times and catching herself on her hands, she slowly made her way to the warp pad. Surely this had to get easier with time; fusions like Garnet would split apart out of pure frustration if it was always like this.

Once on the warp pad, it was easy to get back to the temple and she appeared in the house to the surprise of all five of the Crystal Gems, who were seated around the table in various stages of eating or not eating.

Peridot, first to see them, yelped and grabbed Garnet's arm, nearly falling off her chair. "Oh my stars, they fused!"

"Huh?" Amethyst twisted around to look at the warp pad. "Whoa, look at you guys!"

"Good job," Garnet added, giving her a thumbs up and a wide smile.

"You look so _cool_ ," Steven gushed, abandoning his plate and rushing over.

"Steven, wait!" Pearl intercepted him before he could get too close. "We don't know how stable she is."

"I'm _incredibly_ stable," the fusion said proudly. "Or, well, I'm pretty sure I am. I only just began existing, so it's hard to tell. Either way, nice to meet you, Pearl."

"Likewise," Pearl said faintly. "I didn't even know you were trying to fuse."

"And you fused _before me!_ " Peridot burst out. "I had a whole _plan_ and you two just come along and do it like it's nothing!"

"It's not nothing," she said, stepping down from the pad. "It's _amazing._ "

"It's still not fair!" She looked the fusion over, still clearly wanting to keep her distance, though she looked increasingly fascinated. "But congratulations, I guess."

"Thanks," she said with an amused smirk. "To be honest, I didn't even know Pearls _could_ fuse until we got here," she admitted before pausing, one hand still splayed in the air like she was getting ready to explain something. "The grammar in that sentence didn't quite make sense; I'll have to work on that. Anyway, Blue and Yellow have been thinking about it and wanted to try, so here I am!"

"That's awesome!" Steven interjected. "Thanks for coming to show us!"

"I promised, didn't I?" She knelt down, a little unsteady, so she wasn't towering over him quite as much.

"What's your name?" Steven asked, smiling up at her.

"My name?"

"Steven, Blue and Yellow are the same type of gem," Pearl interjected, putting a hand on his shoulder. "She's a Pearl like they are."

"But we can't call her that," he said, frowning. " _You're_ Pearl."

"We've _really_ got to figure out a better system," Amethyst agreed. "I vote nicknames. So we've got Pierogi, Lemon Drop, Blueberry, and…hmm…"

"Why are they all foods?" Pearl asked exasperatedly.

She shrugged. "'Cause I'm hungry?"

"That's physically impossible."

Amethyst ignored her, thinking. "Oh, I know! Blueberry Lemonade." She frowned. "But I guess that's not _green…_ "

"I give up," Pearl sighed. "Do _you_ have a preference?" she asked the fusion. "If you don't think of something, you're going to be subjected to whatever Amethyst decides on."

She laughed loudly. "I don't know; you can call me whatever you want. It's not like my components have names either. Or," she said suddenly, growing serious, "I suppose Yellow and Blue _are_ their names now. Strange."

"Let's just call you Green until you decide," Garnet offered, walking over. "How do you feel?"

"Good! Very good. A little wobbly. Is that normal?"

"Perfectly normal," she said reassuringly, placing a hand on Green's arm. "You'll get the hang of it."

"I will," she agreed confidently. "I have a lot to do, after all." Green glanced back at Steven, hesitating. "I hope this is exciting enough," she added. "I'm sorry I don't turn into something different."

"Don't be sorry!" he said quickly, coming over to give her a hug. "I think you're great just like this!"

She smiled, relieved. "Me too," she said conspiratorially. "I like this a lot. I'm my own gem."

"You're your own gems separately too, though," Steven said worriedly.

"No, I mean…it's different like this. They get to _choose_ what I'm made for. Homeworld doesn't have any say in what a fusion of Pearls should be like." She patted Steven on the head carefully. "I'm our own—ugh, _pronouns_ —gems separately too, I know that. But thank you. They appreciate the reminder."

"You're welcome!"

"That said," Green continued, words gaining momentum quickly as she spoke, "I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing right _now._ It was just a trial run; I didn't expect it to work right away. How long does fusion last? I'd like to test out a few things, but if my time is limited then—"

"You might want to slow down," Garnet said in amusement, holding up her hands.

"Oh. Yes. Sorry. I've just never been a fusion before. Or I suppose I've always been a fusion, but I only just started _being_. What was I before? Yellow and Blue really don't know very much about this sort of thing, so it's rather overwhelming."

"Yeah, you know how you were asking about how long fusion lasts?" Amethyst laughed. "If you keep freaking out, you're going to be gone in five seconds."

"I'm not freaking out," she said, her jaw set stubbornly. "I am attempting to gain a better understanding of my situation so that the two gems that make me _won't_ freak out."

"You can ask me anything you like," Garnet said helpfully.

"Can I?" She looked relieved. "I'd like that."

"Sure."

"Thank you. I have a lot of questions, but I'll just ask the most immediately pressing ones. They ought to have asked more about the process _before_ they fused, but I suppose I can't blame them."

"Go ahead," Garnet said with a smile.

"First of all, how necessary is dancing to the fusion process? We—I—fused without doing it at all. And Homeworld gems don't have to either… If gems share the same type, do they automatically bypass that step?"

"No, not as far as I know," she replied. "Ruby could fuse with other Rubies without dancing because they shared a similar goal and mindset. But Ruby and Sapphire can also fuse without dancing now, because their desire to be together negates the need for anything extra."

"But the rest of you seem to dance to fuse."

"Yes," Pearl said, carefully kneeling down beside Green with a worried frown, "it does aid in synchronizing with one another."

"But that seems pretty easy to begin with."

"Well, I don't mean to pry, but considering how quickly Blue and Yellow managed to fuse and how stable you _appear_ to be, I daresay they're already able to work together and anticipate each other's needs."

"Oh." Green glanced down at her chest. "Yes."

"Then that helps."

She smiled a little. "Okay. So how long will I be here? And what do I do to separate if that becomes necessary?"

"I don't know how long you'll stay fused—that depends—but you can separate whenever you're ready," Pearl said. "It's not difficult, you just… I think Garnet would do a better job of explaining." She turned to the other gem.

Garnet smiled. "You make a conscious decision to unfuse, and then let go. Just clear your mind and focus on the two of them individually."

"I'm a bit concerned about them, actually," Green admitted. "Will they be alright? I mean, I know I _am_ them, but this is all so new and none of us understand it very well."

"It takes time," Garnet said.

"Yeah, there's no rulebook for it," Amethyst agreed. "Just do what feels right, and you'll figure it out."

"But do be careful," Pearl added quickly. "Fusion is a very complex matter and shouldn't be taken lightly, especially as it's your first time. You're _sure_ you're feeling alright?" she asked.

"Absolutely! You know, there's so many things I want to try—how strong do you think I am? Do you get exponentially stronger no matter what kind of gem you fuse with, or does it vary? Obviously three gems would be stronger than two, but I assume there's some kind of variation as a result of different gem types as well. Hmm," she mused thoughtfully, "perhaps I'll go back to the arena and see what I'm capable of. Would anyone like to come with me?"

"I'm in!" Amethyst volunteered.

"Me too!" Steven chimed in.

"Excellent," she said, standing up. "Peridot? You can come too if you want."

"Yes! I'm not passing up a chance to get data on this—you're likely the first Pearl fusion to ever exist!"

"I _know_ , it's so strange being unique!"

"Be that as it may, you are _not_ going to the arena," Pearl said sharply. "I told you, you need to be careful. Sit down."

Green's eyes hardened as she looked down at Pearl. "I don't take orders."

"While you are a guest in this house and experimenting with gem abilities you don't fully understand, you do," Pearl retorted, crossing her arms. "Furthermore, you're _my_ student and I expressly forbid any attempt at combat until at least your second fusion."

Her face flushed angrily. "I don't need your _permission_. Blue and Yellow think very highly of you, but that doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do. I want to test things out for myself."

"Oh, for heaven's sake—"

"Pearl's right," Garnet interrupted calmly. "You shouldn't overdo things the first time. That's not an order, it's a suggestion from gems who have a fair amount of experience."

Green's demeanor softened slightly. "Alright," she said reluctantly, "but how am I supposed to learn if I don't figure it out now?"

"I have notes!" Peridot volunteered.

"What?"

"Er, notes. On fusion. I've been compiling them for my own purposes, but if you'd like to take a look, I think that could be arranged."

"Oh, yes, I'd like that. I don't feel like reading them now, but Yellow will be happy to take a look at them later." She stretched out her arms carefully. "I think…I should probably go soon. It is a lot to take in, and the sooner I go the sooner I can come back and try out fighting."

"Aww, you're leaving already?" Steven asked.

"I think that's best. I'm sure they'll call on me when the time comes. I have a rebellion to lead after all." Green smirked. "I'm sure the Diamonds will be _thrilled_ to see Pearls can fuse like—" She broke off suddenly, eyes going wide. "I-I don't…can't…" She lifted trembling hands to her gems. "I'm sorry, I need to go now, goodbye!" she said rapidly, and the next second there was a flash of light, Blue and Yellow tumbling apart ungracefully.

"Are you guys—" Steven began.

Yellow leapt over him and crashed to the floor next to Blue, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Are you hurt?"

"Wh-What? No," she answered. "Why would I be hurt?"

"You separated really quickly," she said, scanning her gem with narrowed eyes. "Come on," she said, pulling Blue to her feet and dragging her outside for privacy. "We'll be back in a minute," she called over her shoulder to the others, who had all moved to check on them.

"I'm _fine_ ," Blue said with a small smile as she was pulled a little way down the beach. "That was great, really."

Yellow's concern didn't seem to be assuaged in the least. "I don't understand what happened."

"Don't worry about it." She brushed Yellow's hands away carefully. "It was just a bit overwhelming."

She looked mildly offended. "It was equally overwhelming for me, but you're the one who panicked."

"Well, sorry," Blue muttered, a mix of anger and frustration lacing her voice. "I didn't realize I was supposed to be flawless at this the first time!"

Yellow flinched.

"I—" She faltered, drawing in a shaky breath. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," she muttered.

Blue shivered, one hand coming up to tangle loosely in her hair. "I—We—She was talking about the Diamonds and all I could think was that if we had done that on Homeworld, we'd both have been…" She glanced up uncertainly. "I was scared. For both of us. And her."

"Blue—"

"You don't know how _angry_ the idea of other types of fusion made her," she whispered. "She was going to destroy Garnet just for existing; she'd do worse to a Pearl…"

"Blue Diamond is light years away," Yellow said bluntly. "And she doesn't own you."

Blue laughed breathily. "Blue Diamond hasn't owned me for a long time, but that doesn't make her any less terrifying."

"Well, at the very least, I think our fusion would be competent enough to put up a good fight."

Blue nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. "You're right. I'm sorry for ruining it," she murmured. "I didn't mean to."

"You didn't ruin anything," Yellow said impatiently. "I didn't expect us to stay fused for that long anyway."

"I know, I just…everything was going so well…"

"It wasn't going _that_ well, neither of us knew what we were doing."

"But it was _good_ ," Blue protested. "She was so _confident_ and happy and…" She didn't quite manage to meet Yellow's eyes. "I liked being together like that, I really did."

"You do realize we were _both_ in the fusion, right?" Yellow asked in some attempt at reassurance. "I could tell that much without you explaining it."

"You're not upset?"

"Do I _look_ upset?"

"…You look kind of annoyed, but I guess that's normal," Blue said with a tentative smile.

"I'm not annoyed," she muttered, "I'm just thinking."

"Are—Are _you_ okay? I should have asked that sooner." She bit her lip.

"Yes, I think so, it's just weird having someone else in my head. Or…whatever it is that happens." Yellow watched her uncertainly for a moment, then stretched out a hand, waiting.

Blue's eyes darted to it immediately, and she reached out to meet the offer.

The other Pearl waited until Blue's fingers had settled firmly around her own. "It was better than I expected," she said lightly.

Blue choked out an amused laugh. "That's something, at least," she whispered.

"We'll figure out what we can do to make it go more smoothly next time."

"Next time?"

"If you want."

"Please." She gave Yellow a shaky smile.

"I need some time to process first though."

"Yeah," Blue agreed. "Yeah, me too. But that was fun." She squeezed Yellow's hand, a small playful smile creeping onto her face. "Thanks for making history with me."

"Always a pleasure."

* * *

"I really think I ought to go check on them," Pearl said, pacing back and forth in the living room.

"Relax, P, they're fine. Garnet said so." Amethyst made her sit down. "Geez, you're high-strung lately."

"They've never fused before! I think it's a reasonable concern to have."

"Why, were you incapacitated in some manner after your first fusion?" Peridot asked curiously from where she was rummaging through the closet.

"I was _not_ ," Pearl replied heatedly, "but it's a lot to take in!"

"They can handle it," Amethyst told her. "Besides, you're the one who's always going on about _ultimate connections_ and whatever. Let 'em have a moment to themselves."

"Right…" She clasped her hands in her lap, frowning.

"I don't remember you being this weird about my first fusion. And that was with _you._ "

"It was different for you," Pearl said in a low voice. "You didn't have… You didn't have Homeworld's ideology ingrained in you from the day you were made. The rest of us do."

"So I don't get it because I'm from Earth," Amethyst said bitterly.

"Precisely!" she said sharply. Then she caught herself, voice softening as she lowered her eyes. "I'm incredibly grateful for that."

The other gem blinked in surprise, then looked away.

"I just mean," Pearl sighed, "that I envy you sometimes. It isn't easy to go from being a Pearl _there_ to being a gem _here._ Fusion doesn't even cross our minds on Homeworld."

"Gotcha," Amethyst said with a small smile. "Pearls have to stick together then, huh?"

"Something like that," she murmured. "But you're right. They're doing well enough on their own."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Of course!" Pearl said quickly. "It just…seems that they've made much more progress than I ever did in such a short time."

"Only cuz they're in a rush," Amethyst countered. "And c'mon, it's not like they've got everything together; they were a mess not too long ago."

"I know."

Peridot came over to join them, sitting herself down on the other side of Pearl. "It's clearly due to your guidance anyway," she said, ripping a piece of Velcro apart and then sticking it back together curiously. "Everyone knows a task is easier when you have prior experiences to draw from, even if those experiences aren't your own," she added in explanation when Pearl looked at her. "If every technician had to start from scratch, none of us would even have made it to Earth in the first place."

"That's surprisingly astute," Pearl said with a quick smile.

"That's me," Peridot replied proudly.

"So you gonna hang out with your Pearl Squad or stick around and watch TV with us?" Amethyst asked.

"Pearl Squad?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Steven named you," Peridot said. "I suggested CaCO₃ Triumvirate, but apparently that's too complicated."

"I see," Pearl said dryly. "Well, I suppose I'll stay here for a while."

"Awesome!" Amethyst slung an arm around her shoulders. "We're marathoning the _Camp Pining Hearts_ spinoff series."

"It's an atrocity," Peridot added.

"Then why are you watching it?"

"I have to! It's the burden of a true fan!"

"And Percy guest stars in one episode," Amethyst whispered.

"I will never understand your fascination with these characters," Pearl said, crossing her arms and settling back on the couch as Peridot ran to drag the television downstairs. Her eyes darted sideways. "Thank you," she murmured. "You're right, Amethyst, I have been high-strung as of late."

"Not that much more than normal," she said, waving her off.

"I almost hurt Blue today," Pearl said quietly. "War reflexes."

"You need those," Amethyst replied, shrugging. "And you stopped yourself, right?"

"Yes. I just feel out of sorts lately."

"We got your back, P," she said with a half-smile. "You just need a break from all that swordfighting and building and—what else have you been doing? I barely see you lately."

"Strategizing, mostly."

"Oh, right, Peri said she was telling you about a bunch of Homeworld junk so we'd know how to fight them."

"Right." She hesitated. "I'm sorry, I suppose I have been absent quite a bit."

"What? No, don't worry about it," Amethyst said, looking embarrassed. "Anyway, the point was you've gotta stop thinking every now and then. Watch TV, take a nap, snack on something…"

"That sounds incredibly unappealing."

"Then just stick around for one episode; it's fun to see how mad P-dot gets about continuity."

"What did you say about me?" the technician demanded, dropping the TV onto the coffee table and plugging it in.

"We were just appreciating your proclivity for dissecting Earth cultural artifacts," Pearl replied, which made Peridot brighten and Amethyst hide a snort of laughter.

"If you'd like, I can bring you up to date on all the developments in the show so far!"

"That won't be necessary."

"If you say so." Peridot settled herself back on the couch, next to Amethyst.

"Peridot," Pearl added belatedly.

"Yeah?"

"I appreciate your support as well."

"I-I _am_ a Crystal Gem," Peridot replied, flustered. "Anyway, are we watching this or not?"

"We are," Pearl sighed. "You'd better start it before I can regret my choice."

"This show makes you regret every nanosecond."

"See, it'll be fun, we'll all get to suffer through it together," Amethyst said, an arm around each of them. "And if you're still worried after, I'll go pester the other two with you, 'kay, Pierogi?"

"Alright," she agreed with a quiet laugh. "Thank you."


	13. Chapter 13

"And you see, with that line they basically erase Paulette's entire existence! I mean, I hate her, but you can't deny she was in the original—"

Peridot was interrupted as a loud, ringing sound cut through the air.

"Not _again!_ " Amethyst exclaimed, clapping her hands over her ears.

"What do you mean again? What is that?" Peridot shouted, cringing.

"It's a wailing stone," Pearl replied, raising her voice to be heard as she stood up.

"Nobody's used wailing stones for years!"

"Well, we haven't exactly been upgrading with the rest of Homeworld," she said, hurrying to the closet and yanking out the stone. "Amethyst, hand me some pillows."

Half a dozen were thrown her way, one hitting her directly in the face. " _Amethyst!_ "

"Just make it shut up already!"

"I'm working on it!" Pearl shoved a pillow into the wailing stone's center and then placed four more around it, muting the sound to a manageable buzz. "There!"

Amethyst relaxed, glaring at the covered wailing stone. "We really need a better way to get cryptic space messages."

"More to the point, why are we getting any message at all?" Pearl asked, confused. "It can't be Lapis this time, and there aren't any other gems that would be trying to contact us…"

The door was flung open behind them, Yellow and Blue hurrying in looking concerned.

"What _is_ that?" Yellow demanded. "Did something happen?"

"It's a wailing stone," Pearl explained again. "It's done this before; it's not able to process information from Homeworld directly with all the changes in technology."

"No kidding," she scoffed. "Nobody uses those anymore."

"So I've been told."

"Someone's trying to send us a message?" Blue asked curiously, walking over and moving one of the pillows aside, then hurriedly replacing it.

"I could probably rig something up to listen to it," Yellow mused, tapping a finger against her lips thoughtfully.

"You don't need to," Pearl said.

"I don't?"

"We can just run it through Greg's van like last time," Amethyst agreed.

"Run it through a…van? I thought you said that was for transportation."

"It is," Pearl replied, "but he has a fair amount of musical equipment, and we managed to see it with his help last time."

"When did that happen?" Peridot asked.

"Just before you arrived and tried to blast us to pieces."

"…Sorry about that."

"It's cool," Amethyst told her, patting her on the back.

The warp pad activated by the temple door, and Garnet and Steven appeared.

"We heard the wailing stone!" Steven said by way of greeting. "Who's calling?"

"We don't know yet," Pearl replied, giving him a quick hug as he joined them.

"Greg's on his way with the van," Garnet added.

"Thank you."

"Can I take this thing apart later?" Yellow asked nonchalantly, wandering over to the stone. "It might have some useful parts for the ship."

"I'll help," Peridot volunteered.

" _No_ , you cannot take it apart," Pearl said indignantly.

"I say go for it," Amethyst chimed in.

"Me too," Garnet agreed. "We have plenty of them."

"Oh, fine," Pearl relented. "You can take one. But first we're going to find out _exactly_ what it's transmitting."

* * *

In less than ten minutes, Greg arrived in his van and began setting up the equipment so they could listen to the message. Yellow watched in fascination as he strung together rather primitive human devices.

"And there we go, that should do it!" he declared. "Wanna do the honors?" he offered, holding out a cord to Steven.

"Absolutely!" Steven mock-saluted him and hurried to plug it into the TV screen.

Almost immediately, a picture appeared, blurring for a few seconds before settling into a crisper definition. The gem on screen was a Pearl—though her gem wasn't visible with the partial picture they were getting—and Blue immediately leaned forward, trying to take in every detail. Golden yellow skin—darker than Yellow's by a few shades—and fluffy hair that fell to her chin, the tips curling up in no particular direction. Her voice had the same familiar commonalities that could be heard in every Pearl's speech, but had a hint of something stronger behind the soft subservience.

"— _to Earth. Repeat, this message is directed to the gems on Earth. Can you hear me?_ "

"Can we transmit back to her?" Blue asked, hand pressed to the edge of the screen.

"I don't think so," Pearl said, shaking her head.

"We can try," Yellow argued, reaching for some of the other equipment in the van. "Can I borrow this?" she asked Greg.

"Uh, sure, knock yourself out. Just give it back in one piece if you can?"

"Understood," she said briskly. "Thank you." Yellow inspected a small video camera and then flicked it on. "Your other wailing stones?"

"In the temple," Garnet said, nodding. "I'll get one."

"Get three; I might break a couple."

"Got it."

"— _unclear if you can receive this message. Please understand the planet's safety will soon be compromised. If you can hear me, please respond or signal that you are receiving this message, and further information will be provided immediately._ " The Pearl glanced sideways, then back to the screen. " _We have limited communication abilities right now, but you can contact us at this frequency at any time. For safety purposes, please don't transmit any important information unless we've confirmed via video call that the line is still secure._ " She paused. " _Thank you. Alliance out."_

"She's gone," Yellow said irritably, setting the microphone she was holding down. "We should get this set up so we can talk back next time."

"Uh, I'm a little more worried about the whole your-safety-has-been-compromised part," Amethyst said, poking at the now-quiet wailing stone.

"We already knew that would happen," Yellow said briskly. "Though we were hoping for a bit more time."

"She said 'alliance'," Blue whispered. "They have an _alliance._ "

"That's great!" Steven had been leaning over her shoulder to look at the screen, and he gave her a quick hug before letting go.

"It's certainly impressive," Peridot mused.

"It's _dangerous_ ," Yellow said. "How did they even manage that?"

"I don't know," Blue replied, frowning.

"You don't think it's a trick, do you?" Amethyst asked.

"To determine if we're here?" Pearl replied. "I suppose it _could_ be, but…"

"There are easier ways to find out," Garnet finished.

She nodded, turning to Yellow and Blue. "Though I think it's wise to be cautious. Do either of you know her?" she asked, gesturing to the blank screen.

Yellow shrugged. "She's owned by a Citrine, I think?"

"Yes," Blue confirmed. "Cut…9ZV, I believe. She's kind of a young Pearl, and mostly just performs cleaning duties." She caught Yellow giving her a strange look. "What?"

"I should have figured _that's_ what you use your memory for," Yellow said, smirking.

She smiled. "When you stand around in court all day, you don't have that many options. And I think it's important," she added more seriously.

She nodded briefly, a small frown on her face.

"I take it neither of you know her personally though," Pearl said.

"No," Blue agreed, "I just talked to her the once. She seemed interested in the projections though, so…it's not surprising to see her."

"I see." Pearl drummed her fingers lightly against her leg. "I think it would be best to focus our efforts on replying then. It's doubtful Homeworld would try and trick us like this—acknowledging the mere _possibility_ that Pearls could think for themselves is too dangerous to the status quo."

"And she wouldn't contact us for no reason," Yellow concluded. "So let's get to work."

* * *

Yellow and Pearl began their work on the equipment immediately, Greg offering a little bit of help before he had to head back to the car wash. Peridot had volunteered her assistance as well, but they'd decided it would best for her to continue work on the ship, the others tagging along to help out.

Blue mulled over the message they'd just received, playing it back a couple times via projection. An alliance. An alliance meant progress—it meant that at least some of the many Pearls had come together, and that was _amazing._ She didn't know how they'd done it, but she knew full well there were ways to slip away. It was hardly unreasonable that, with a combined effort, it would be possible to find the time and minimal resources needed to put out that call.

But most importantly, they weren't alone.

She pressed a hand to her gem, reminded of the Pearls she'd kept there. _Things are changing_ , she wanted to tell them. _I'm sorry you couldn't see it happen._

Blue dragged her fingers through the sand, cringing a little at the feel of it. She needed to bury them soon, she decided. She needed to let them rest so she could focus on helping their surviving sisters on Homeworld. Her immediate thought was to talk to Yellow about finding time for it, but…last time they'd had any real discussion about that, it had caused a huge misunderstanding. She had no desire to bring up those memories again, or to make Yellow uncomfortable.

She could do this alone.

She _could_ , but she didn't want to.

It felt selfish to ask for that kind of favor. Yes, she'd asked Yellow to fuse with her just recently, but that had been something that was more about _them_ than just Blue wanting something for herself. She needed the closure, and Yellow didn't.

"Is there a reason you're lurking around?" Yellow asked over her shoulder when Pearl went back into the temple to fetch supplies.

Blue jumped, startled. "Oh, sorry."

"It was a question, not a complaint."

She relaxed a little and went over to join Yellow, stepping carefully around the wires. "How's it coming along?" she asked.

"Slowly," Yellow replied with a shrug, turning to give Blue a closer look. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" Blue said quickly.

"You look upset."

"I'm not."

"If this is about fusion…" she began uncertainly.

"It's not about fusing," Blue said, waving off her concern. "I'm fine. We're fine."

"Okay," Yellow said doubtfully. "What then?"

"I…I'd like to ask you something."

She waited.

"I mean…I'd like to ask you to do something," Blue corrected herself. "I just wasn't sure if that was alright."

"Of course it's alright," Yellow replied easily, giving her a strange look.

"It's just—You're not going to like it."

She narrowed her eyes. "Is this another terrible idea that highlights your complete lack of self-preservation skills?"

"No," Blue said defensively. "It's a _favor_ , that's all."

"Then tell me what it is and I'll tell you if I hate it enough to say no."

She lowered her eyes. "I-I'd like you to come with me when I bury the other Pearls," she murmured.

Yellow remained silent for a few moments, and Blue started to worry she shouldn't have asked until she heard a quiet "I can do that."

"You will?" she asked, looking up in surprise.

"Yeah." She flashed a quick smile that ended up looking more like a smirk. "I still think you were half-cracked to do something like that in the first place, but I understand it's important even if I don't understand why."

"Thank you," Blue said, one hand clasped in front of her gem. "Thank you so much."

"Now can I get back to figuring out how this infernal tech functions?"

"Sure. Need any help?"

Yellow held up one piece out of the messy tangle of equipment. "Do you have any idea what this thing is?"

"Not a clue. Why don't you ask Pearl when she gets back?"

"Because whenever I ask Pearl anything about this junk, I wind up having to listen to some dramatic retelling of an adventure she and Rose Quartz had ages ago. I don't want a story; I want to know what in the stars it _does!_ "

"I like her stories," Blue said, laughing as Yellow made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat. "And, well, I think she likes having other Pearls to talk to."

"I don't mind her _talking_ ," Yellow relented. "I'd just prefer the explanation come at the beginning of the story instead of the end."

"Fair enough," she laughed, "though I think you've been annoying her just as much with your music tastes."

"Oh, I know, that was on purpose."

" _Yellow._ "

"It was Amethyst's idea, not mine."

Blue snorted. "Of course it was. Do you actually like that stuff?"

" _Yes_ ," she replied, offended. "What's the matter with it?"

"Nothing, nothing! It's just surprising. Very anti-Homeworld of you though; I like it."

"I always hated court music," Yellow said with a small shrug.

"I can tell."

"Stop teasing and help me with this."

" _What can I do for you?_ " Blue sang, grinning.

"Oh my stars," she muttered, blushing as she turned back to the equipment. "Never mind."

* * *

It took approximately five hours for them to work out how to do it. Connecting the wailing stone to the TV was easy, since that had been done before, but feeding a signal back through another wailing stone to transmit a message back—in real time—was significantly more difficult.

Pearl took the lead, directing Yellow through the process and going through some of the Crystal Gems' old things to find more technology that might help make the wailing stone compatible. Meanwhile, Blue watched and practiced her summoning—nothing, still, but she was hardly going to consider giving up with the fresh reminder of all the Pearls back on Homeworld.

"Done!" Pearl declared happily, standing up and dusting some sand and dirt off her clothes.

"I'm not entirely sure _how_ we got that done," Yellow muttered, glaring at the collection of gem and human technology that had been weaved together with an excessive amount of wire, "but there it is." She crawled out of the mess and flopped down on the sand. "It better work, because I refuse to go through all of that again."

"Oh, it wasn't so bad," Pearl laughed, waving her hand. "Back in the rebellion, we had _far_ less to work with! Now _that_ was a real challenge!"

"You can work with this ancient junk all you want, Renegade, but I'm not touching it."

Pearl clicked her tongue, sharing a conspiratorial look with Blue. "Gems today…"

Blue snorted.

Yellow tilted her head back to shoot Blue an indignant glare. "I should be the one complaining here."

"You _are_ the one complaining," she said fondly, poking the point of Yellow's hair.

"Yes, I am," she said haughtily, waving Blue's hand away. "And stop that."

"It's fun."

"You have your own hair to play with."

"My hair's annoying. Yours and Pearl's—it just stays _up._ I like it." She gathered her own hair and pulled it upwards.

Yellow took one look at her and clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the sharp laughter that burst from her chest.

Pearl, likewise, did a poor job of concealing her amusement. "I'm not sure that's _quite_ the renegade look you'll want."

Blue rolled her eyes, letting it fall back down messily and fixing her clips. "Fine, fine," she said lightly, laughing. "I'll be less drastic about it whenever I do change," she conceded.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Yellow replied, sitting up. "Now are we going to just sit here being silly or are we going to get some training in?"

"I thought you were taking a break," Pearl commented.

"I was, but if you two are going to team up on me I'd rather it be in a sparring match so I can get something useful out of it."

"You know," Pearl said, eyes lighting up, "I think that sounds like an excellent challenge."

"Oh _stars_ , I didn't actually mean—"

"It'll do wonders to prepare you," she continued, already pulling her spear out. "Let's head back to the arena!"

"I'm going to kill her," Yellow muttered to Blue as they followed Pearl back inside.

"I'm glad you're getting along," Blue laughed.

"What part of _I'm going to kill her_ makes you think we're getting along?"

"You complain about her like you complain about me. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign."

Yellow shot her a rather ineffective glare. "How can I politely say 'shut up' without actually meaning for you to shut up?"

"You're sweet."

"You're a pain."

"Thank you."

* * *

It was almost a full day before the wailing stone went off again, Garnet warping into the arena to tell the three of them just before it happened.

"Who should talk to her?" Pearl asked as they arrived back at the house and hurried out to the van. "It probably—hello, Greg—ought to be Blue, but I can stick around to help with the equipment if you like."

"I can handle it," Yellow said. "You're supposed to go help the others transport some of Rose Quartz's old—ahem, I mean Era 1—weapons, right?"

"That was our plan, but…"

"We can take care of things here," Blue reassured her. "It's probably best not to have a whole crowd of gems here anyway."

"You're right," Pearl agreed. "Well, you know how to find us should you need anything. Try not to break the van; I just did some tune-ups." She patted both of them on the shoulder, double-checked the equipment one last time, and hurried back inside.

"So I'm guessing you guys need me to get out of your hair now," Greg said lightly, putting away the guitar he'd been strumming.

"Out of…um…?" Blue exchanged a confused look with Yellow, just as the wailing stone started emitting a slightly dampened screech.

"We're unfamiliar with that colloquialism, but I believe the answer is yes," Yellow said quickly. "Thank you for letting us use your transportation machinery; we'll remove the communication system and give it back once we're certain this works."

"Hey, no problem," he replied. "Good luck!"

Left alone, Yellow hurried to get everything in place while Blue turned on the television screen.

She was greeted immediately by the sight of a Pearl—a different one than last time. Her hair was long, swept back from her face so messily that she looked more like a Quartz than a Pearl at first glance. Blue's eyes were drawn immediately to the off-center gem on her forehead, distinctive enough to identify her with. Her gem, eyes, and skin were all a striking black against an almost identically dark sleeveless outfit with gold and silver accents. Blue recognized her as someone she'd talked to—she'd belonged to an Obsidian—though she'd been strangely absent for quite some time and Blue had assumed she'd been shattered.

" _Transmitting on Homeworld frequency 48031 to former colony planet Earth_ ," the Pearl said, reaching for something off-screen. " _If you're receiving this, please respond._ "

"We're receiving!" Blue said quickly. "Can you hear me?"

"No, she can't hear you," Yellow said, rolling her eyes. She took the headset Pearl had scavenged from Amethyst's room and stuck it on Blue's head. "Try it now."

"Hello? Hello, can you hear me?" she repeated.

" _We're receiving you_ ," the Pearl said, surprise evident on her face.

"Good, that's good! Hold on just a minute, we're trying to get the camera—oh, thank you," Blue said as Yellow stuck the small webcam in front of her and adjusted it to make sure she was properly on screen. "Can you see me now?"

" _Negative._ "

Yellow smacked her controls irritably.

" _Wait, no, got it._ " The Pearl on screen looked back and forth curiously. " _It_ is _you_ ," she said, barely concealing her shock.

Blue nodded. "We're both here. Yellow," she said, beckoning her over.

"Hey," Yellow said, leaning into the frame briefly. She made an annoyed _tsk_ sound and grabbed the microphone on Blue's headset, leaning in close to repeat the greeting. "Hey. Yes, we made it here in one piece." She paused. "Where are you and how are you calling us?"

The other Pearl took a second to respond—likely because of a slight delay from their equipment—and then nodded. " _We have a makeshift communications hub—I'd rather not divulge our exact location. A couple of us knew the tech well enough to start up the equipment._ "

"You—wait, _what?_ "

"Yellow," Blue said patiently, pushing her away, "if you'd like to do the talking, I'll just give you the headset."

"I just want to know what's going on," she said.

"I was about to ask."

"Okay, fine, I'll watch the equipment and make sure everything keeps working." She darted in again to grab the microphone. "This transmission is secure, right?"

" _Yes, as secure as it can be._ " The other Pearl sounded mildly irritated.

"Good." Yellow let go and went back over to the controls, leaving Blue to readjust the headset with a faint smile.

"How many of you are there?" she asked, keeping her voice soft and friendly.

" _Hold on_ ," the Pearl said, holding up a finger. She leaned off screen for a moment. " _Aura! Hey! I got it working!_ " she shouted.

Blue winced at the volume, but kept her eyes on the screen. To her surprise, another Pearl—the one who had contacted them the first time—bounded into view, leaning in close to the camera.

" _It's really her!_ " she said excitedly. " _I mean, hello_ ," she said, blushing as she backed up, dipping her head and lifting one hand to wave at Blue.

"Hello," Blue replied, smiling. "It's good to see you again."

" _Oh, you remember me_ ," she said, sounding pleased. " _I go by Aura now_ ," she offered shyly. " _Aureate, like gold._ "

"It suits you," she said kindly. "You can call me Blue."

" _You use colors too!_ " Aura's face lit up. " _Most of us do as well. We weren't really sure what to do about distinguishing ourselves, and it seemed like the easiest route. Oh, and this is Chroma._ " She pointed to the Pearl beside her.

"Nice to see you again too," Blue offered.

" _Nice to see you_ ," Chroma returned perfunctorily. Her eyes flicked between Blue and Aura, settling on the latter. " _You can take care of the talking, right?_ "

Aura smiled and pressed a closed fist to the pearl on her stomach. " _I can._ "

Chroma returned the gesture—hand to forehead—and nodded once to Blue before disappearing off-screen.

"If I can ask," Blue tried again carefully, "how many of you are there? And…how exactly _are_ you there?"

Aura hesitated. " _Well, there's about two dozen of us right now. We're mostly runaways and rescues—Pearls that were sent to be harvested._ "

"How…?"

" _Resources are stretched thinner than usual…the higher-ups don't really have time to make sure everyone's being shattered, so we take advantage of that whenever we can._ " She looked down for a moment, then back up. " _Oh, but that's just the Pearls that are here full-time. There are lots more that are still in service! They do what they can to help the rebellion too._ "

"That's…amazing," she breathed. They really had built the beginnings of a revolution.

" _It is_ ," Aura agreed, smiling. " _I wish I had time to tell you more, but…_ "

"But you need to be careful," Blue finished. "You're right. What was it you needed to tell us?"

" _We just received word from Yellow Diamond's court_ ," she said. " _There's…well, there's a lot happening here and we're fairly certain that's why she hasn't been able to spare any gems yet to go retrieve the Jasper she sent before—or investigate anything else. But she's scheduled in a new mission. The ship will be arriving on Earth in…um, just a moment, sorry._ " Aura leaned sideways, whispering a question to someone nearby before straightening up again. " _Thanks_ ," she said before turning back to Blue. " _About one Earth month._ "

"That long?" Blue asked, though a feeling of dread was already settling in her chest.

" _It's not long at all_ ," Aura said, looking puzzled. " _That's why we wanted to contact you._ "

Right, Blue realized. She's gotten so used to Earth and how fast everything moved here that she'd forgotten that mindset—on Homeworld, there was no shortage of time. It was a streamlined planet, with everyone in their place and no limits of day or night. There was no immediate rush when it came to conquering planets. It was a little odd for Yellow Diamond to delay, simply because that was atypical of her as an individual, but it could easily be explained by the discovery of another planet that could provide more resources than a trip to Earth.

" _I wish we could do more to help_ ," Aura offered.

"No, no, thank you for contacting us," Blue said. "It means we'll be more prepared."

She nodded. " _We'll get you more information whenever we receive it, I promise._ "

"Thanks." She smiled and held up a hand. "I'll talk to you later. Be careful, alright?"

" _We'll try._ " Aura touched her gem once more. " _We honor your service_ ," she said, a faint melody in the words. It gave the impression of one of the set phrases Pearls often used, but Blue didn't recognize it.

She hesitated, then lifted her fist to her gem to copy the gesture. "And I yours," she returned awkwardly.

Aura laughed, though there was no hint of unkindness in it. " _It's 'I honor your bravery' actually, but thank you._ "

"Sorry," Blue said with a smile. "I honor your bravery."

Service they've chosen and the bravery to act. She never expected her quiet rebellion to come so far in such a short time.

" _Goodbye_ ," Aura said with a little wave.

"Bye," she echoed.

The screen went blank and Blue felt Yellow sit down beside her, their shoulders brushing just a bit.

"You did a better job kick-starting a rebellion than I thought," Yellow commented lightly.

"It's not just me," Blue said with a small smile. "It's everyone. It's finally…" She took a deep breath. "It's finally happening."

"You're alright?"

"More than alright," she laughed, pressing her fingers to her lips. "Come on," she said, excitement lighting up her eyes, "we have to tell Pearl and the others!"

"And warn them their planet's going to be under attack in a few weeks."

"That too." Blue clenched a fist determinedly. "We'll be ready."

She followed Blue's quick strides back to the temple, hiding a smile. "Yes, we will."


	14. Chapter 14

Yellow discovered very quickly that she was not a fan of group hugs.

She and Blue had shared the role of recounting their conversation with the Pearls on Homeworld, and everyone else had listened with rapt attention to every word. Upon finishing, Pearl was in one of her starry-eyed renegade moods and Blue was positively glowing with delight as Pearl wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Blue, in turn, had pulled Yellow in, making herself the center of a poorly coordinated hug and looking far too happy about it for Yellow to decline.

And then all the other Crystal Gems had joined in and she'd lost her escape route.

Yellow glanced down at Steven, who was on her other side, and he smiled up at her when they made eye contact. Yeah, she was definitely stuck now.

"Did you all miss the part where Yellow Diamond is sending more gems here?" she muttered under her breath.

"No, but we're celebrating the rest of the news," Garnet said, voice tinged with amusement. "Your hard work paid off, after all."

" _Blue's_ hard work, not mine," Yellow replied.

"Yours too," Blue protested.

"You have a few thousand years on me and you're more than welcome to take the credit."

"You just want me to let go, don't you?"

" _Yes._ "

Blue laughed and gave her one final squeeze before letting her arm slip back to her side.

"Thank you." Yellow maneuvered out from under Garnet's arm as well and moved away to sit on the edge of the couch. Steven started to let go too, but she pulled him along with her instead.

"Hey, you can't just go starting your own group hug," Amethyst complained.

Peridot nodded in agreement. "You're breaking protocol."

"The point of this hug is that it's _not_ a group hug," Yellow said haughtily. "If I wanted to be squashed by six different gems simultaneously, I'd go back to Homeworld."

"Spoilsport."

Steven giggled, settling comfortably against her side in a far less stifling embrace. "It's okay, I'll come back and visit!" he called to the others.

"You'd better," Garnet replied with a smile.

Their little celebration didn't go on for too much longer, and Yellow reaffirmed her opinion that hugs in moderation were fine—Blue's were always calming and Steven's were nice too, the warmth his human form generated making her appreciate his presence all the more. Organic life, she mused, was so _different._ She liked different, and she liked the freely given affection between the Crystal Gems even if this particular ritual wasn't for her.

"I'll draw up a new training schedule," Pearl said excitedly as she extracted herself from the group. "I'd really like to focus more on technique now that you're both quite adept with the basics. And I think we could all benefit from some group sparring sessions and—yes, I should work on the holo-Pearl simulations so Steven can use them safely. But first we should move all of the sound equipment into the barn so we can be sure to keep it working for the next call. Yellow?"

"Okay," she agreed, getting up and stretching.

"I'll help too!" Blue volunteered.

It didn't take too long to move the equipment over between the three Pearls, though they were careful not to jostle it too much during the trip to the barn.

Once they were back at the temple, Pearl dusted off her hands. "I think now's as good a time as any to continue training," she declared. "That is, if you didn't have any other plans for today."

Yellow's eyes flicked to Blue. "We do have plans, actually."

"What? Oh!" Realization dawned on Pearl's face. "Yes, of course, I'm sorry; I got so caught up in everything else I forgot! We can start tomorrow then."

"Thanks," Blue said gratefully. "I'm sure we could do a little training this evening."

"No, no, that's not necessary," she replied with a smile. "You're due for a day off anyway. Garnet," she called, "would you mind opening up the Burning Room for us?"

"No problem." She strode over to the door, extending both palms. The corresponding gems on the star glowed and the door split open. "Here you go."

Blue peered in curiously, taking in the red-colored room and the assortment of bubbles floating near the ceiling. "What are all these?" she asked.

"Gems corrupted at the end of the war," Garnet replied.

"Corrupted by what?" Yellow queried, leaning in and looking around suspiciously. "And what are you _doing_ with them?"

"The Diamonds wanted to be sure the rebellion was wiped out," Pearl said, ushering them inside. "Rose protected Garnet and me—and Amethyst was still in the ground—but the rest of the Crystal Gems…"

"We poof them and bubble them so they'll be safe," Garnet continued, seeing the unease in Yellow's expression. "It's not harvesting."

"Thank the stars," she muttered. "I was just starting to like you." She peered up at the nearest bubble. "They're all Crystal Gems?"

"Most of them, yes," Pearl said. "A few are Homeworld troops that got left behind in the retreat."

"I had no idea," Blue murmured, pressing a hand to her gem. "I knew they 'won' but…I didn't know the Diamonds went this far."

"None of us expected it," Pearl said bitterly.

"They were desperate," Garnet said. "The war had gone on far longer than they expected."

"I see," Blue said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," she replied. She reached up, pulling one of the bubbles down and passing it over to Blue carefully. "We've all lost friends. All we can do is keep them safe here and make sure they're not in pain."

"Thank you," she murmured, cupping the pale bubble in both hands and staring at the too-familiar fragments within.

Garnet's hands pressed briefly to the backs of hers, gems hot and cold against her skin, and held them for a moment. Blue looked up and locked eyes with her, surprised to find the fusion's visor gone. "It was a brave thing to do," she said simply.

Blue gulped, feeling wonderfully overwhelmed by the support as Garnet's hands slipped away. _I was brave._ She'd thought so too, in secret, back when she started taking them, but after she learned what her own actions had cost her she just felt like an idiot. This…This brought back a little bit of her original confidence. _I was brave._

"Are you alright?" Pearl asked carefully.

She nodded. Another hand joined hers, and she looked up in surprise to find Yellow there, uneasy but determined. "Thanks," she whispered again.

She wasn't sure how to feel, about to complete this duty after so long, but she would be forever grateful that she wasn't going to be doing it alone like she'd expected.

* * *

"This is the spot I was thinking of," Pearl said as they reached a quiet, flower-filled field. "What do you think, Blue?"

She looked down at the grass, then back at the bubble cradled in her hands. "It's perfect. It's very…It's very _Earth_ , if that makes sense."

"I think I know what you mean," she returned with a smile.

"Thank you for bringing us here," Blue said earnestly.

"It's no trouble." Pearl hesitated. "I'd recommend leaving them bubbled. We're not sure of all the effects of the damage from the Diamonds, but if there's any residual energy left it's better to be safe than…"

"I understand."

"I could show you how to bubble them yourself if you'd like," she offered.

"No," Blue said with a faint smile. "I don't think they'd mind having the Renegade guard them."

Pearl froze, looking like she was at a complete loss for words for a moment as tears welled in her eyes. Then she shook her head quickly, putting on as neutral an expression as she could manage. "Well, um, take your time. I'll be at the temple if you need anything, so…yes. I'll see you later." She turned and hurried back in the direction of the warp pad.

Blue turned to find Yellow giving her a confused look. "What?"

"Isn't she staying?" Yellow asked under her breath, gesturing towards Pearl's retreating form.

"What?"

"I mean, I assumed you wanted her here as well."

"I…wasn't sure if I should ask," Blue admitted.

Yellow gave her a light shove forward. "Ask if you want to ask," she said impatiently. "Like you said, we're on Earth."

"…You're right." Blue ran a few careful steps forward, calling out before Pearl could get out of earshot. "Pearl! Wait!"

She turned around, confused, and began to walk back. "Yes?"

Blue took a deep breath. "Would you—Would you like to stay?"

Heartfelt emotion glistened in Pearl's eyes and she nodded quickly, coming over to join them. "I'd like that very much. Are you sure?"

Blue smiled. "Very sure."

Once she'd decided on a place, the three of them got to work digging a small grave. Blue set the bubble aside as she worked, letting it rest on the grass beside her. The feel of the dirt on her hands was close to being comforting—an _almost there_ for her one-track thoughts.

It was done almost too soon, and Blue scooped up the other Pearls in her hands, biting her lip as another wave of emptiness hit her. She'd carried them in her gem for so long that this almost felt wrong, even if it had always been their destination.

Blue swept her hair back from her face with one hand. She could see herself shaking but felt disconnected from her form.

Yellow reached out to steady her hand, though she made no move to take the bubble.

She dipped her head gratefully, unable to find any words. After a few long moments, she sat up straight and leaned forward to place the Pearls in the ground carefully.

"Goodbye," she whispered, letting her hand linger briefly on top before she gathered a handful of dirt and let it fall lightly over the smooth surface. Pearl and Yellow let her take the lead as she covered the little grave, staying back and resting a hand lightly on each of her shoulders.

When it was finished, she looked to Pearl. "What do we do now?" she asked shakily.

"Whatever you'd like," she replied. "You can say something, or mark this place with something to remember them by, or…anything, really."

"I don't want to mark it." She would remember them regardless. She wanted them to be able to rest, for this small place to be overgrown and made part of a planet much more loving than the one they came from.

"Alright."

"But…" She reached out and rested her hand lightly on the fresh soil. She did want to say _something._ "I'm sorry this is all I could do. I wish you could know that things are starting to change." She drew in an unsteady breath. "I honor your service," she whispered. "You're safe now."

Small tears formed and trailed uneven streaks down her cheeks as she stood, eyes still glued to the ground.

"You're free," she told them. "And…And I'll fight for you."

"We all will," Pearl agreed softly from behind her.

Yellow nodded, her hand the ghost of a touch on Blue's right shoulder.

Blue took a deep breath and put her hand to her gem to summon her sword and honor the pledge. The weapon materialized in a blaze of shimmering light, and it was weighted strangely in her fingers as it emerged, drawing her attention away from the grave for the first time since they'd arrived.

That…was decidedly not her sword, or any of the weapons she was carrying.

Pearl made a sort of stifled, half-excited half-crying noise behind her, and Yellow's fingers tightened almost painfully on her shoulder.

"I'll fight for you," Blue repeated in a choked voice, blinking quickly to try and focus her blurred vision. She dipped into a low, respectful bow towards the grave, her newly formed weapon clutched in her hands. "Thank you," she murmured.

She stayed there for a few moments, then stood, her eyes traveling up the length of the weapon in her hands. It was a spear, not unlike Pearl's, but it was topped with a crescent-shaped blade rather than a single point. She ran her fingertips along it curiously, finding it even sharper than any of the forged weapons she'd tried.

"I _summoned_ ," she whispered, turning to the other two. "I summoned!"

The statement broke the somber atmosphere, sending it crumbling as Pearl hugged her tightly and Yellow placed a hand just above Blue's on the spear, giving her a genuine, pleased smile.

"You did it," she said warmly.

Blue let out a breathy laugh and held tightly to the solid weapon in her hands. "I did!"

Whatever else they'd done, she really did have something to thank the other Pearls for.

* * *

"Congratulations," Garnet told Blue upon her return.

"Thanks!"

"Congratulations on what?" Steven asked curiously.

"Yeah, you look way too happy to be coming back from a funeral," Amethyst said, propping her head up on her hands. "That _is_ where you went, right?"

"Yes," Blue replied. "But I managed to summon my weapon for the first time too."

"Oh my gosh, that's amazing!" Steven exclaimed, jumping up from his seat between Garnet's legs. "Can we see?"

"I, um, I've only done it once…" she began shyly. "I'll try." Blue closed her eyes and placed her hand in front of her gem, trying to recall the feeling from before. The hilt of one of her practice swords began to emerge, but she pushed it back in. "Not that," she muttered. "Spear, please."

Amethyst laughed. "You can't _talk_ your weapon out, Blueberry."

"I believe," she began, catching hold of the glowing object that began to emerge from her gem, "I just did." She pulled her new spear out, more than a little relieved that she had managed it. "There."

"Whoa." The Quartz grinned. "Now _that_ is a cool spear."

"Isn't it _lovely?_ " Pearl gushed, making Yellow roll her eyes. "It's so symmetrical and well-balanced!"

"It's really cool!" Steven's enthusiasm matched Pearl's as he stared up at it. "Can I hold it?"

Blue nodded, passing her spear over with a smile. _Her_ spear.

"You knew?" Pearl asked Garnet conversationally as she kept an eye on Steven.

"It was pretty likely," Garnet replied with a shrug and a smile. She patted the seat beside her, and Pearl sat down. "I assume the rest went well too?"

She nodded, then jumped to her feet again as she remembered something. "Oh, Blue, this is for you!" Pearl pulled something small from her gem and handed it over with a flourish.

Blue took it, squinting down at the little piece of paper she'd been given. "It's…you?"

"What is this?" Yellow asked disdainfully, looking over Blue's shoulder.

"A Pearl point!" Pearl reached for her gem and then handed Yellow one as well. "Here you go!"

Yellow looked at it doubtfully. "Well, no one's ever given me points for being a Pearl, but, uh…" She placed it back in Pearl's hand. "I'll pass."

" _Yellow_ ," Blue chided.

"They're not for being a Pearl," Pearl informed her, unfazed as she peeled the back off the sticker and reached over to stick it onto Yellow's arm. "They're for punctuality, perseverance, and positivity," she continued, giving it a little pat.

Yellow gave her a particularly derisive glare. "That doesn't explain why I would want a miniature version of your face applied to my form."

"When you earn enough of them, you can pick out a prize from the Pearl Prize Pouch!" She paused. "Well, as soon as I fill it up. I haven't had time to go to the store yet."

"I've earned three Pearl Points already!" Steven added happily.

"Are you all _cracked?_ " Yellow muttered, picking at the sticker on her arm.

"I think it's cute," Blue said.

"Of course you do."

"Careful," Amethyst said with a wide smile, "or you won't get any points for positivity."

Yellow groaned, pulling the sticker all the way off and glaring at it for a moment before she put it inside her gem. "There. I'm keeping it. Happy?"

Pearl blatantly ignored her, continuing on. "Anyway, that one is for perseverance, since you've both been putting so much effort into your training and I'm very proud of all the progress you've made. I have no doubt Yellow will be able to summon soon as well."

Blue's face lit up and she stored the Pearl Point away safely. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," she returned with a smile.

Yellow stood there silently, looking rather taken aback by the praise, until Blue caught her hand.

"We'll make sure we earn lots more!" Blue said happily.

"Yeah," she said blankly, before coming to her senses. "I mean, _no._ Please don't give me any more."

"Too late, you asked for it," Amethyst laughed.

* * *

Once everyone had dispersed, Blue found herself sitting alone in the living room, saying good night to the other gems as they left to the barn or to their own rooms. She wasn't quite sure what to do with herself, but she knew she needed at least a little time to unwind and think after everything that had happened.

"Blue?" Steven called downstairs worriedly after a little while. "Are you okay?"

"What?" She blinked, coming out of her thoughts. "Yes, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure," Blue said with a smile. "I think I'm just a little lonely."

"Oh." Steven padded down the steps and hopped up on the couch beside her. "I bet Yellow or Pearl or Peridot would keep you company if you went to the barn. And I'm supposed to be going to bed but I could talk Garnet into letting us watch TV together for a little while."

"Thanks, but…" She pressed a hand to her gem carefully. "I'm lonely but I want some time alone. Is that silly?"

He shook his head.

"I can go somewhere else if I'm in the way…"

"No, you can stay here!" Steven said quickly. "Here is fine! Just, uh, please don't watch me sleep or anything."

"Why would I do that?"

He shrugged. "Pearl used to."

She laughed a little. "Well, I think that's just a Pearl thing, not a _Pearl_ thing, so you don't have to worry."

"Okay," he laughed. "I'll see you in the morning then?"

"Yeah," Blue replied. She gave him a small, tentative hug. "Good night?"

"Good night!" he returned as he headed back up to his room.

Blue lay down on the sofa and let her thoughts wander. She liked the dark of the room, and she let it cover her as she clutched her newly formed weapon to her chest one more time, taking slow, steady breaths in and out. It was quiet here, and safe, and she let herself grieve for the Pearls that had left an empty space in her gem.

 _Goodbye._

* * *

Blue was roused only a few hours later from the daydream-like state she'd entered, with the sound of a startled shout from above her. She immediately bolted upright and ran upstairs to Steven's room.

"Steven, what is it?" Blue asked anxiously, crashing to her knees beside the bed when she saw he was still lying there. "Are you okay?"

He scrubbed at his eyes quickly and then threw the blankets aside, jumping out of bed. "We have to go get the others!"

"What…?" Blue let him pull her downstairs and over to the temple door, watching as he banged on it quickly.

"Garnet! Amethyst! Pearl!"

"Pearl's at the barn with Yellow and Peridot," Blue reminded him.

"Oh, right. Garnet! Amethyst!" He reached up to knock again, but the door split into three and opened before he could.

"We're here," Garnet said, crouching down in front of him. Amethyst was right behind her. "What did you see?"

"It's Lapis! I don't think she's in control anymore and—"

"Okay." She adjusted her visor. "Blue, go to the barn and get Pearl. Tell her that Malachite's back."

Blue snapped to attention, nearly bringing her arms up for a diamond salute before she caught herself. "On my way," she said, stepping onto the warp pad.

The rest of Garnet's words were lost as Blue was pulled into the warp stream and soon she was appearing near the barn, launching into a run as soon as she landed. She wasn't sure what was happening, but if it had _Garnet_ worried it had to be serious and Blue had no intention of wasting time.

What was _Malachite?_


	15. Chapter 15

"Pearl!" Blue called as she raced into the barn. She very nearly crashed into Peridot in her hurry and immediately steadied the smaller gem by the shoulders. "Sorry! Is Pearl here?"

"She's right over there," Peridot replied. "Why are you—"

"I'm here!" Pearl slipped out from inside the ship. "What happened? Is everything alright?"

"Oh, good! I'm not sure, but Garnet needs you back at the temple."

"What for?" Yellow asked, coming around to join them.

"For…Malachite?" Blue replied with a shrug. "I don't know, that's all she said."

"Oh no," Pearl sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead. "I knew we'd have to deal with her sooner or later. Alright, let's go." She dropped the tools she was carrying in her other hand and took off towards the warp pad, leaving the other three to follow.

"What's Malachite?" Yellow asked.

Peridot looked like she wished she was anywhere else. "A fusion of a Jasper and a Lapis Lazuli. My former escort and informant. I haven't met Malachite in person, but she's…definitely not friendly."

"A _Jasper_ fused with a _Lazuli?_ " she repeated in disbelief. "We are talking about the 'Kindergarten Quartz That Could', right? One of Yellow Diamond's most respected soldiers?"

"And the Lapis Lazuli that came back to Homeworld saying she'd been trapped on Earth?" Blue asked.

"That's them," Peridot confirmed.

" _Why?_ " Yellow asked incredulously.

"Don't ask me, I wasn't even there!"

"I thought you said she was your escort," Blue said, puzzled.

"Our ship crashed and—look, it's a long story! I'll explain after we've taken care of the huge fusion that probably wants to crush me!"

Blue nodded, already quickening her pace, with Yellow and Peridot following close behind her.

They arrived back at the temple to find the rest of the gems on the deck, looking out at the ocean. A few seconds after they joined the group, something broke the rhythm of the calm waves, rising up from the water and making both Blue and Yellow take a step back.

Even from a distance, _huge_ was nowhere near enough of a descriptor for Malachite. Blue suddenly felt very, very grateful for the fact that she and Yellow were both Pearls and incapable of creating a fusion of that sort. She immediately felt guilty for thinking it though, because Garnet was right next to her—a fusion of two very different gems—and she was nothing like Malachite. It was about the relationship, she reminded herself.

But stars, Malachite was scary. Blue had spent the majority of her life next to a gem many times her size, but Blue Diamond had always had a rather dignified air. Blue might not have _liked_ her, but there was a familiar calmness and constancy in her presence most days. Malachite, on the other hand, was unknown, unpredictable, and angry. As much as Blue relished the idea of a real battle, she was _not_ looking forward to fighting her.

Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet were already jumping down to the sand, and the others followed a second later. Blue summoned her spear—though it took concentrated effort—and Yellow pulled out a pair of swords, tossing one to Peridot since she was unarmed and then retrieving another for herself.

"Thanks," Peridot said in a small voice, shoulders tense as she kept her eyes on Malachite.

"Gems," Garnet said. "Get ready."

Pearl and Amethyst nodded, and Blue was about to ask what she meant but a moment later the three of them were dancing—three different styles synchronizing and coming together in seconds—and there was a burst of light that towered far above her.

Blue looked up at the fusion in awe, not quite able to take in the massive, six-armed gem before her. "Hi," she said faintly, taking a step back and bumping into Yellow, who seemed equally stunned.

"Hello." The fusion crouched down, giving Steven a very careful pat on the head. "You don't have to hide, Peridot. We're on the same side."

She peeked out from behind Steven. "I know, but you didn't give us much warning!"

"Sorry, didn't have time." She glanced the Pearls over briefly. "I'm Alexandrite."

"Nice to meet you," Blue offered cautiously.

"You four stick together, and keep Steven safe. I'll handle Malachite. Try not to get involved unless you have to."

She nodded. By all rights, she should have been disappointed to have been relegated to a smaller role, but the prospect of fighting a fusion like Malachite was much more daunting than she would have thought.

"Good. Take care of each other."

She could do that.

Blue glanced down at Steven, who had somehow ended up in front of them with his shield already in hand, and then exchanged a look with Yellow and Peridot. There was an unspoken agreement that Steven's safety came first, especially as his body wasn't made like theirs, but she appreciated the fact that he didn't sit idly by like a Diamond while other gems fought his battles.

The two gigantic fusions, both too far away to hear clearly, were talking now—or shouting at each other at least. Alexandrite hadn't attacked right away, and Blue admired the courage it took to try and give her opponent a chance to surrender peacefully, even if it was no use. Jaspers were remarkably stubborn and Lapis Lazulis were sturdy little gems in their own right. To be perfectly honest, she had always been unnerved by the potential strength of the ones in Blue Diamond's court. On Homeworld they didn't have the resources to do much damage, but on colony planets like this one… She wondered if that was why her Diamond only ever had a small handful of them made.

Whatever the reason, Malachite wasn't going to surrender, and too soon they were spectators to what must have been the most impressive—and the most stressful—battle of the century.

Alexandrite was just as strong as she looked and could hold her own against Malachite. But as the fight went on, it was clear that Malachite had the advantage of the terrain. Huge amounts of ocean water at her disposal, which she could manipulate, freeze into spikes or shields, or use as extra limbs. Not to mention, she could _fly_ , as odd as that seemed.

"We have to help them," Steven declared. Alexandrite was caught in a water fist, being squeezed as its strangling grip turned to ice.

Blue wasn't about to argue. "Yellow and I will go," she agreed, gripping her spear tightly. "We can at least be a good distraction."

"What exactly are we going to do?" Yellow asked. "I don't think she'll particularly care that a couple of tiny gems are poking her."

"Then…let's be less tiny?" she suggested, holding out a hand.

"Oh my stars, Blue, you've got to be kidding me. We've never—She's never fought before!"

"It'll be fine, we just need to get her attention."

"That doesn't make me feel any better!" Yellow glanced over her shoulder at Alexandrite, gritting her teeth as she watched her struggle to stay fused. "Okay, I'm in," she relented, grabbing Blue's hand. "At least this way I know you're not going to run off and do something you shouldn't."

Blue smiled, dismissing her spear and pulling Yellow towards her, a glow of light forming around their joined hands and rapidly spreading to the rest of their bodies.

Green formed quickly, perhaps even more quickly than last time, and barely kept her balance as she found herself standing on the sandy beach. "Whoa! Okay. Well, I didn't expect to come back to this mess, but I'm sure we can figure something out. Hi, Steven, Peridot."

"Hi!"

"I'm a distraction, right? Let's see…" She glanced down at her gems. "Can I summon? Would it be half a summon? Oh, forget spears, I've got more than enough swords." Blue had, in fact, made a point of storing some larger ones to fit Green's hands. "Thanks," she said to herself as she pulled a couple out, one from each gem. Now _that_ was interesting; she'd have to figure out how her storage space worked later.

"Are you sure you've got this?" Peridot asked.

"Absolutely! Experience is the best teacher, right?"

She didn't look entirely convinced.

"I'll shout if I need any help," Green amended. "Or unfuse. Maybe both." She dipped into a small, playful bow towards Steven. "You two stay safe."

"We will!" Steven replied. "Be careful, okay?"

"I'll do my best."

Green took off towards Malachite, finding it much easier this time to coordinate her movements. The sheer fabric around her shoulders fluttered wildly in the wind as she leapt up onto Malachite's back without hesitation. The fusion was far too focused on Alexandrite to notice her, which meant she had the advantage and she needed to use it while she could.

Really, Yellow had nothing to worry about. She had secondhand fighting experience from both her components, and it wasn't hard to translate that into action.

One of Malachite's gems was there in plain sight, a little way out of her reach, but Crystal Gems didn't try to shatter their enemies so Green wouldn't either. Besides, that was the Lapis Lazuli's gem, and Steven had seemed worried about her when he'd woken up.

Instead, Green slashed into Malachite's lower back, deep cuts gouging the two-toned skin.

 _That_ got her noticed.

Malachite twisted around in surprise, knocking Green off of her with one arm and sending her crashing into the water. "What are _you?_ " she snarled, eyes narrowed as Green surfaced again.

"Still figuring that out, actually," she replied brightly, chin just barely above the surface and hair dripping water down her face. "But I'm a _who_ , thank you very much." Green steadied her grip on her swords underwater.

"Stay out of my way."

"I'm really quite tired of gems telling me what to do." She ducked her head under the water and slipped closer to one of Malachite's legs—arms?—to stab a sword through it blatantly.

It earned her a painful kick and a hand yanked her out of the water by the hair, but it was worth it.

"I said stay—" Malachite's four eyes squinted at the fusion she was holding, finally getting a good look at her. "Are you a _Pearl?_ "

"I am, yes. Technically I'm two Pearls."

Malachite threw her aside carelessly, easily tossing the smaller fusion at least a number of yards away.

"That was uncalled for," Green muttered irritably as she picked herself up again, rubbing her head. She was missing one of her swords too, having left it stuck in Malachite's leg. That was annoying, but at least she had a few backups ready to go. She pulled one of them out and made her way back towards Malachite as quickly as possible. "Hey!" she shouted, glaring up at her. "I wasn't finished!"

Getting absolutely no acknowledgment whatsoever, Green scaled Malachite's nearest limb and hauled herself up onto her back again as fast as she could. Alexandrite was very nearly free, she thought, and she could at least keep Malachite from causing any more damage while she escaped.

Well, if she wouldn't pay attention, she'd _make her._ Green drove both swords down into Malachite's back as hard as she could, piercing through the dark green uniform and deep into her form. It was unspectacular brute force and she wished it had been a real fight so she could practice her sword techniques, but this would do. It got the job done.

Malachite howled in pain, stumbling forward and trying to shake Green off.

The smaller gem held on tightly, refusing to lose her grip on the swords.

"You little _pest_ ," Malachite growled, reaching back and grabbing her bodily.

After a few moments of fighting back, kicking uselessly and holding onto her swords so hard her arms ached, she dropped her hold. Malachite was stronger, and she'd just end up hurting herself—hurting Yellow and Blue—if she kept it up. She yanked another sword out of one of her gems and held it defensively in front of her chest as she was whipped around and grabbed by a water hand.

 _Stay safe, stay safe._

 _Stay together_ , she told herself.

She flung one of Blue's spare daggers at Malachite's face with her free hand, then winced as a barrage of sharp ice was sent her way, Malachite squeezing her hard to keep her in place.

Green dropped her sword, curling her arms in around her gems protectively as she felt the ice pierce her skin.

 _Stay safe._

It hurt—hurt even more than it should have because she'd never experienced severe pain as a fusion before—and it was a struggle not to separate.

"Hey!" Alexandrite shouted, breaking free. "Don't forget about me!"

Oh. Good. She could feel Blue and Yellow's relief distinctly in conjunction with her own. Her job was done.

They could take this from here.

Green unfused, leaving the two individual Pearls to slip out of Malachite's grip.

Hitting the water from that height sent another jolt of pain through their bodies, but Yellow and Blue both forced themselves to stand once they'd fallen to the bottom.

Yellow knew they had to move before they were located or turned into collateral damage from one of Malachite's attacks, so she grabbed Blue by the arm and hauled her away from the battle. Alexandrite's voice was above them, muffled by the water, but still enough of a guide to know which direction they needed to go to get to safety.

Yellow had never actually been dissipated before, but she assumed it must feel something like this. Everything hurt, and her head was fuzzy from a combination of the pain and the fusion.

Blue looked ten times worse though, when she checked over her shoulder. She seemed like she could barely walk and, though it was hard to tell in the water, her form didn't look particularly stable.

Yellow spared a few seconds to get an arm around the other Pearl and give her some support, eventually giving up on her initial plan to get them farther away and pulling Blue up to the shore as quickly as she could manage.

Blue fell to her knees as soon as they were on land, hunched forward with her hair falling over her eyes, clips loose in the wet blue tufts. She coughed up the seawater she'd inhaled by accident.

"Blue, we can't stay here." They were still far too close to the fight for her liking.

"I-I know, I just…" She shuddered, and her whole body flickered in and out for a split second.

"Blue. _Blue._ " Yellow grabbed her shoulder. "Come on, you're not allowed to do this right now."

She tried to laugh, though it came out weak. "I can…poof whenever I like. Nobody owns me."

"Stop trying to sound cool," she muttered, unable to keep the panic out of her voice as she watched Blue fight to stay upright. "Do you think you can move?"

"Not really," Blue whispered.

"Okay. Okay, you stay there and I'll—"

"Blue!"

Yellow looked up in surprise to find Steven running towards them, Peridot close behind.

"What happened?" he asked anxiously, situating himself between them and Malachite with his shield, even though they were currently out of range. "I can heal you if—"

"N-No. Don't. Not cracked." It seemed like more and more of a struggle for Blue to get words out.

"If you can heal her, then heal her!" Yellow said. "What are you waiting for?"

"I…" Steven looked around uncertainly.

"She needs to let her form dissipate; I'm not even sure how she's still here," Peridot said.

"Don't want to leave until everyone's safe," she whispered.

"We are," Steven said quickly. "It's okay. We'll take care of your gem, I promise."

Blue managed a tiny nod, though she stayed where she was, unmoving.

Yellow looked between them in disbelief, fear flaring in her chest as Blue shuddered again. "I don't understand why you can't—"

"It's severe damage; she has to heal on her own," Peridot interrupted.

"But…" _But I'm fine_ , she wanted to say. _I'm fine, so Blue should be too._ She didn't understand why the damage hadn't been split evenly when they unfused.

And she didn't want Blue disappearing for days on end, not like this.

"Yellow." One of Blue's hands curled shakily around her wrist. "It's okay." She felt fragile, paper-thin against Yellow's damp skin. "We…We should let Green try fighting again when I get back, with Opal or someone. She did well."

"Yeah, okay," Yellow agreed faintly, twisting her hand to grab hold of Blue's wrist as well.

"You don't have to look so worried; I've done this before," she said with a small smile.

"I know." That didn't stop her from remembering the gems she'd seen release their form and never have a chance to regenerate.

"Okay." Blue's grip tightened minutely. "See you soon."

Her physical form vanished in an instant, and Yellow just barely caught Blue's gem before it hit the sand.

She stared at it mutely, only faintly aware of the sudden lack of noise behind them that signaled the end of the fight.

"Um, Yellow?" Steven asked, dropping his shield and coming around to sit beside her. "Do you want me to heal _you?_ "

"What?" she asked blankly.

"You're hurt." Steven gestured to the lacerations scattered up and down her body.

"Oh. Yes, that would be helpful." She kept a careful hold on Blue as he licked his hand and stuck it on her arm. Yellow flinched at the wet sensation and stared at him in confusion. "What is _that?_ "

"Healing spit."

Yellow grimaced but let him continue, pulling out some of the ice that had been embedded in her wounds before he got to them. It wasn't _pleasant_ , but it did work, her skin healing over after mere seconds.

"Do you want to take her inside?" Steven asked when he finished, gesturing to Blue. "We can find a pillow or something so she's comfortable, and she can stay in my room."

"That won't be necessary," Yellow replied in an unusually quiet tone. She glanced back over at where Alexandrite was unfusing next to two unconscious gems. "I'll take care of her. Unless you need me for something."

He shook his head. "I think we've got it from here. I'll let the others know what happened."

"Thanks." Yellow rose to her feet, hands still cupped around Blue's gem securely.

She took the warp pad to the barn for some privacy, needing some time to process everything that had just happened.

She shouldn't have been so shaken by Blue's sudden absence, but she was.

Maybe it was because they'd fused again, and she had been so close moments before.

The reason didn't really matter. She just knew she needed to make sure Blue would be alright.

"You know," Yellow said conversationally after a few long moments, "you'd assume that the Pearl who figured out how to summon her weapon first would be the sturdier of the two."

Blue's gem sat unmoving in her hands, and Yellow sighed.

"Don't stay in there too long; we've got things to do."

She wished there could be some kind of answer or acknowledgement so she could know Blue heard her, but of course there wasn't. It was silly to expect her to come back quickly, especially after taking damage Pearls were never expected to take in the first place. They weren't built like Quartzes, who were practically expected to do this regularly.

"Never mind," she said, voice soft as she closed the gem between her palms briefly. "You can take your time."


	16. Chapter 16

Day one.

Yellow stayed in the barn for the rest of the day, working on and off. It didn't do much to get her mind off of the fight with Malachite, but it made her feel a little better if she was doing something useful. She kept Blue's gem close so she could keep an eye on it, though she kept telling herself she was worrying over nothing.

About an hour in, she was interrupted by Steven's cheerful "Knock knock!" and looked up to find him and Garnet there with the Lapis Lazuli half of Malachite carried securely in the larger gem's arms.

"Can we come in?" Steven asked.

"Sure," Yellow replied.

"How's Blue doing?" he asked, peering around at the gem placed to Yellow's right.

"The same."

Steven went over and said hello to Blue too, fluffing up the folded blanket Yellow had placed her on for added safety. "I hope she'll come back soon. Pearl took _forever_ last time."

"She did?"

"It's not good to rush things," Garnet said lightly. "But she shouldn't take as long as Pearl did, unless she's making big changes."

"She might be," Yellow said, a note of exasperation in her voice as she glanced Blue's way. "Who knows? She'll probably come back with some ridiculous hairstyle or something, just to be _different._ "

"She might," Garnet agreed, her lips quirking up minutely, and Yellow sincerely hoped that wasn't the future vision talking. "Would it be alright if we let Lapis rest in here?" she asked. "It's best to keep her and Jasper apart right now."

"That's fine." It wasn't like she owned the barn. She wasn't terribly keen on the idea of sharing the space with a gem she didn't know while Blue was in such a vulnerable position, but it looked like the Lazuli would be out for a while and it wouldn't do any harm to have her there.

"Do you want to come back to the temple?" Steven offered while Garnet got Lapis settled in the far corner of the barn. "We're ordering pizza and having a movie night—or movie _day_ , actually."

"I don't eat."

"I know, but I thought you might like to see some of the _Lonely Blade_ movies. There's swords! Pearl says it's horribly inaccurate, but it's still a lot of fun."

"I think I'll just stay here, thanks."

"Oh, alright." He looked rather disappointed, but covered it quickly. "Well, if you change your mind, we'll save a spot for you! And Blue."

"Don't work too hard," Garnet added. "You need to rest."

"I know."

They said their goodbyes, leaving Yellow alone with Blue's gem and the sleeping Lapis Lazuli. It occurred to her belatedly that Steven had probably been trying to cheer her up, and felt bad for turning him down so easily. She just didn't have the energy to keep up a conversation or try anything new today.

 _Today_ had already been severely overwhelming.

Yellow went back to tinkering for a while, then gave up as exhaustion began to tug at her form. She picked up Blue and left the barn, walking over to the spot where they had first landed on Earth. It felt too quiet without the familiar conversation, but it was calming all the same.

Blue would be back soon. She just had to wait.

* * *

Day two.

Yellow was terrible at waiting. She hated it. She probably would have hated it less if there weren't so many unanswered questions bouncing around in her head, but it was still annoying.

She spent the first portion of the day working—though she was quickly running out of things to do, since the ship was very nearly finished—and then just sat for a while with her eyes closed, trying to plan out what else to do with her time.

Training. She could do that.

It seemed strange to do it without Blue though.

Instead, she settled on summoning practice, since she figured she needed to catch up in that area anyway. The extra time wouldn't hurt.

Peridot came by late in the morning, interrupting the tedium that was trying to summon, and Yellow welcomed the distraction.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, watching Peridot rifle through the miscellaneous box of supplies from Homeworld. It was more like half a box at the moment, because Blue had been storing what she could in her gem and that was currently inaccessible.

"Making a destabilizing field to keep Jasper in," she answered. "Want to help?"

"I assumed Jasper was unconscious too," she said, tilting her head towards the unresponsive Lazuli.

"Not for long, knowing her."

Yellow nodded, coming over to join in and keeping Blue's gem within arm's reach. "Are you…on good terms with Jasper?"

Peridot snorted. "Hardly. Definitely not once she finds out I've changed sides."

She nodded again. "Me neither. I don't think she's going to come around, if that's what Steven's hoping for."

"Yeah, he talked the rest of us out of bubbling her."

It was a very Earthling thing to do. Or a very Steven thing.

The two of them worked in silence for a while, just speaking to coordinate the simplistic device. It only took about an hour total to finish, and then Peridot turned to Yellow decisively.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What's fusion like?"

Yellow stopped, taken aback. "…Shouldn't you be asking Garnet? I don't know that much about it."

"No, I know that, I just—she's two different gems, and she's _always_ fused. I assume that's a completely different experience from yours. Or mine, to some extent, if I…if I want to try."

"Fair enough."

"I've been thinking I might, lately," Peridot admitted, like she felt the need to explain her line of inquiry even though Yellow hadn't asked. "Now that I've gotten used to being a Crystal Gem and everything, it seems like as good a time as any."

Yellow nodded, narrowing her eyes. "You're not about to ask _me_ to fuse with you, right?"

"No," she retorted indignantly. "I just wanted your perspective on the matter, since we're in a similar position as beginners!"

"Good." She paused. "That wasn't intended to be an insult; I'm just not interested in trying any more fusions right now."

"Understood." Peridot tilted her head curiously. "Why not?"

"Because I don't know what went wrong with the last one yet. And—I don't know, I'm just not." She straightened the small array of tools next to her, then clasped her hands in her lap to keep them still. "So what did you want to know?" she asked Peridot.

"Just tell me about it. What's it like? Were there any significant differences between the first and second times you fused? What level of consciousness do you retain while you're part of a fusion? Do all of your individual skills transfer to the fusion or a select few? Is there—"

"I'm not a fusion expert," Yellow interrupted tiredly. "And it's not like Green's stuck around long enough to find out some of those details." Peridot just looked at her expectantly, and she sighed. "Look, to be honest, it's really weird. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, even if I know how it works in theory."

Peridot didn't look at all reassured by this. "Weird how?"

She shrugged. "As gems made for Yellow Diamond—even as a Pearl—our minds are meant to be our greatest assets. And you have to trust that to someone else. Along with the rest of you." She glanced at Blue, then back again quickly. "It's _good_ , it's just weird."

"Huh." Peridot's eyes followed hers for a moment. "Okay. So what's it like fighting as a fusion then?"

"It's…the same as fighting as one gem for the most part; you're just stronger because you're not alone." Not as strong as she would have liked though, considering what had happened. Her thoughts flashed to Blue on the beach, barely keeping her form together.

"I could have guessed that much."

"You're the one that asked," Yellow said dismissively. "Who are you going to fuse with anyway?"

"I don't know yet!" Peridot answered, looking flustered. "I mean, Garnet's the only one who's offered, so I suppose she's the most likely candidate."

"That'll be interesting."

Peridot gave her a look like she wasn't quite sure if that was sarcasm or not. "Do you have any advice?"

Yellow thought for a moment. "Make sure you know what you're getting into, I guess," she said finally. "I mean, talk about it with Garnet or whoever first. That way you're on the same page. It…balances the fusion. I'm not sure how to describe it."

"Okay," she said, nodding. "Thanks."

"Sure."

Peridot hesitated, clearing her throat. "You know, Pearls have the longest regeneration period of any gem."

"I do know."

"Right. Well. Steven told me to tell you he'd look after Blue if you want a break."

"I don't."

"Okay." Peridot picked up the deactivated destabilizing field they'd thrown together and stood up. "I'll go take this over to the temple. Do you need me for anything today? Amethyst said she wanted to take me somewhere."

"No, go ahead."

"Great, thanks!"

Yellow bade her farewell and went back to her practice, both Blue and Lapis Lazuli kept carefully in her peripheral vision. Stars, she felt entirely uninformed about any of this. She had no idea why this Lazuli had been fused with a Jasper, even less of an idea of what events had led up to that, and—as she had told Peridot—no idea why fighting their fusion had hurt Blue so badly. That probably didn't have anything to do with Malachite though.

But it had everything to do with Green, and she did her best to ignore the empty space beside her and the questions that got caught in her throat with nowhere to go.

She really didn't understand fusion at all, she thought. Blue didn't either.

Maybe they shouldn't have—no. She cut off the train of thought abruptly, turning her attention back to her gem. There wasn't any reason to start deciding things like that without any evidence.

Just wait.

* * *

Day three.

Pearl appeared right at the crack of dawn and announced that they should get back to training, practically dragging Yellow over to the warp pad to get to the arena.

"You have to keep practicing, or you'll lose your progress," she declared, briefly inspecting a few swords before picking out which ones she wanted to use.

Yellow couldn't argue with that so she left Blue up near the top of the steps, as far out of the way as possible, and drew her own swords.

One-on-one sparring with Pearl was always a challenge, and she appreciated the distraction, but they made it nearly until noon before Yellow had to pointedly remind Pearl that it was Steven's lunchtime. She leaned heavily against a pillar to catch her breath while she watched her take off for the temple.

Pearl definitely deserved her reputation but, stars, she never seemed to _stop_ sometimes. She forgot that other Pearls hadn't been fighting for thousands of years; they'd just been standing around being _Pearls._ Yellow's stamina might be significantly better than when she started, but she did need breaks.

She took a few minutes to recover and then stored her weapons away and went to get Blue.

As soon as she arrived at the temple—she figured she should at least say hello to Steven and the others—Amethyst whisked her off saying she wanted a donut-eating buddy and everyone else was out at the barn with Lapis.

"I don't _eat_ ," Yellow tried for the hundredth time as they approached their destination.

"I've never even seen you _try_ eating," Amethyst argued.

"I tried it once."

"With what?"

"I don't know. A—A round breakfast thing with a sauce on it. Steven gave it to me the first week we were here."

"A round thing? What, like a pancake?"

"That sounds right."

"And you didn't like it?"

"No."

"Okay, well, now you can try a different round thing!"

"No thank you."

"Loosen _up_ , Lemon Drop, not all food's the same." Amethyst slung an arm around her and ushered her through a glass door.

"I am not a—"

"Hey, Sadie! The usual for me and somethin' plain for my friend."

The short blonde person at the counter nodded, already reaching for the food with a smile. "Hi, Amethyst and…uh…wow, you look a lot like Pearl."

"What else would I look like?"

Amethyst laughed and waved her hand dismissively. "This is Yellow," she said. "She's Pearl's…cousin. Or something. She's new in town."

"Well, welcome to Beach City! I'm Sadie." She paused briefly to offer Yellow a handshake.

She accepted it quickly, careful to use a lighter grip than usual. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. What are you in the mood for?" she asked, gesturing to what Yellow assumed were donuts. "Just regular glazed or something?"

"…That's fine," Yellow agreed reluctantly. Whatever it was couldn't be any worse than the other options.

"Okay. Anything to drink?"

"No thank you."

"Be ready in just a sec then."

Amethyst beckoned Yellow over to her "usual table" and gave her a couple napkins. "You don't have to try it if you don't want to," she said. "I'll _gladly_ take on the burden of eating an extra donut."

Yellow nodded gratefully, though she picked off a tiny piece of the donut when it arrived. It was only fair to test out eating more than once for a better understanding of it.

The soft substance was far too sweet for her liking and it left her fingers sticky, so she immediately placed it in the box in front of Amethyst and used a napkin to scrub off the residue.

Once Amethyst had eaten that one and at least six others, Yellow took the chance to ask her to explain the circumstances surrounding Malachite.

When she finished, Yellow found it much easier to piece together where the events fit in the timeline—she remembered when the Peridot and Jasper had left for Earth, and she had some vague memories from Green that confirmed that Blue remembered Lapis' return as well.

Amethyst made it clear that Lapis was, to some extent, an ally, even if that was only because of Steven. Yellow figured that was a good thing, considering that having a Lazuli as an enemy on a planet like this could potentially be disastrous.

Jasper, on the other hand, was definitely not a friend to the Crystal Gems. She could have guessed that much. But apparently Steven was making a concerted effort to get through to her despite her unwillingness to listen.

They finished up and said goodbye to Sadie, Amethyst parting ways with Yellow at the temple and disappearing into her room while Yellow stopped at the warp pad.

Yellow returned to the barn to find it empty, which wasn't too surprising considering what Amethyst had told her, but she wondered where everyone had disappeared to. She certainly didn't have any complaints about having some time to herself though, so she got to work making some final touches on the ship. Peridot ran in and out briefly at one point, saying something about finding something to give Lapis, but otherwise she was left alone.

It was around mid-afternoon when she actually ran into Lapis Lazuli, looking up from her work to find another gem standing in the open doorway. She instinctively placed herself between Blue and the visitor, eyeing her warily.

"Hello," Lapis greeted her, looking equally distrustful of Yellow.

"Hi."

She seemed to take this as an invitation to come in. "Peridot's not here, is she?"

"No, she left. Something about a gift."

Lapis nodded, looking relieved. She moved to sit down, continuing to stare between Yellow and the ship. "I'm Lapis Lazuli."

"I know." She realized belatedly that it had been intended as an introduction and added, "I'm Yellow."

She nodded. "Alright. I didn't know there was another Pearl here."

"We haven't been here long."

"We? Oh…you were a fusion before. Sorry, it's all kind of fuzzy."

Yellow figured it would be unwise to comment on Malachite, so she let it be.

"…What's the ship for?" Lapis asked, in some halfhearted attempt to move to another topic.

"Getting back to Homeworld."

Lapis nodded, and didn't ask why. That seemed to be the end of their conversation, and she relocated to the rafters.

Yellow felt a bit uneasy with her up there, but focused back on her work.

Lapis was less uppity and fancy than most of Blue Diamond's court and less hostile than she'd assumed based on Malachite, but she wasn't particularly approachable either. Though, to be fair, Yellow couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to fuse with a gem you hated for months, fighting every step of the way.

Given her own position, there weren't _many_ experiences she would consider truly terrible, but that one probably made the list. Yellow figured Lapis probably needed some space, and as long as she wasn't hurting anything she didn't have a problem with her being there.

She wondered, briefly, if Blue knew her from her time in court, and added that to the list of questions to ask when she returned.

* * *

Day four.

Staying at the barn was beginning to make Yellow feel like she was becoming a part of some terrible human television program like Peridot watched, and she wanted out _immediately._

The problem was that Peridot was absolutely determined to make Lapis Lazuli her friend. Lapis Lazuli did not want to be Peridot's friend and made this very clear. Peridot continued being stubborn and relentlessly "generous", and Lapis continued being irritable and tired, and it didn't mix well. Yellow was doing her best to stay far, far away from the drama. It was entertaining to watch, perhaps, but it was tiresome even just being the neutral party.

"Do you want to come over to the temple for a while?" Steven asked when he came by in the afternoon, and Yellow immediately jumped at the chance. She'd been making excuses to go in and out all day anyway.

They warped back together, and Steven made a fuss about preparing what he called a "tea party" despite the fact that Yellow didn't want to eat or drink anything.

"It's okay," he said when she pointed this out. "We can just have fun and talk and stuff."

She was fairly certain they could do that without the tea, but it was still immensely better than trying to help Peridot come up with gift ideas so she didn't question it.

And it was, in its own way, relaxing. Steven took on the role of server—"waiter", he called it—and poured her a cup of warm tea and set some little cookies on a tray and put on a funny accent as he did so.

A Pearl, being served by a Quartz. It didn't seem as strange as it should have.

Yellow ended up trying the tiniest sip of tea—because it smelled nice and not too flavorful—and decided she liked that alright, to her surprise and Steven's delight. She didn't drink very much of it, maybe half a cup, but Steven was quick to tell her that there were _all kinds_ of tea and that he'd get some for her to try.

She said thank you and reminded him not to get too much, because even if it was good, she still wasn't too sure she wanted to partake in it on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, she discreetly moved all the cookies towards Steven because they looked like another sweet round thing she didn't want. He didn't seem at all offended and ate every last crumb.

"We should do this again when Blue gets back," he said earnestly.

Yellow nodded, her eyes drifting sideways briefly.

"Do you miss her?"

If Blue was here, she'd be teasing Yellow for one reason or another about liking this human drink and being a _fancy_ Pearl who goes to _parties_ with delicate china and things. And then she'd join right in.

It would feel too vulnerable to say she _missed_ Blue, but she did.

"She would like this sort of thing," Yellow said finally, which wasn't an answer but Steven accepted it anyway and changed the subject.

After about an hour or so of talking about tea and other insubstantial things, he seemed to arrive at the request that had been on the tip of his tongue for quite a while.

"Do you want to come see Jasper with me?" he asked, pointing outside. "We've all been taking turns trying to talk to her—and also making sure she doesn't do anything dangerous—and I thought maybe you'd want to join in."

"No," Yellow said immediately, then realized that was a bit too blunt. "I don't think it would be a good idea."

"Aww, are you _sure?_ She worked for Yellow Diamond too, didn't she?"

"She still does. That's the problem."

"But you have something in common! I bet she'd like to talk to you."

"Steven…" She ran a hand over her face, trying to figure out how to say any normal Quartz like Jasper wasn't going to want to talk to a Pearl. Especially not _Yellow_ , who she'd butted heads with—figuratively, thank the stars—a few times in the past already.

" _Please?_ "

He certainly knew how to get his way even if he didn't give orders, Yellow thought with amusement. "It's a bad idea," she repeated.

"Come on, Yellow, just once?"

"I—Fine. _Once_ , as thanks for the tea _._ Don't be surprised if this goes wrong."

"Okay!" Steven agreed happily.

She left Blue safely on Steven's bed and followed him outside, to the translucent dome created by the destabilizing field where Jasper was being kept.

"Jasper, hi," Steven greeted the Quartz pleasantly. "I brought Yellow along today! I thought you might like some company."

Jasper's eyes narrowed as she turned to face Steven, then widened in surprise when she caught sight of Yellow. "What are _you_ doing here?" she exclaimed.

"I'm a Crystal Gem now." She wasn't quite sure if that was accurate, but it was important to present a united front. Steven looked incredibly pleased to hear her say it though, so she figured it was alright.

"You've got to be kidding me. Since _when?_ "

"I don't think that's any of your business."

Steven gave her a look that clearly said _be nicer_ , and Yellow relented.

"While you were fused under the ocean."

"This is some kind of trick," Jasper said suspiciously.

"Hardly. If we were interested in tricking you, there would be much easier ways." She wanted to bite her tongue as soon as she said it—she hadn't actually _meant_ to be insulting that time, but anger was already clouding the Quartz's face.

"Well, there definitely aren't many Pearls with a mouth like yours, so maybe it isn't. Still, I always figured you for a devoted servant."

"I guess you figured wrong," she replied, keeping her tone as light as possible without backing down. "I ran away."

"Clearly. There's no loyalty left these days, is there?" Jasper growled. "Not even from a _Pearl_."

"My _loyalties_ are none of your concern," Yellow replied, bristling. "At least I don't blindly follow orders and call that bravery."

"Oh, so you're _not_ working for Rose now?" she scoffed disbelievingly.

"Jasper, I told you, I'm not Rose Quartz," Steven said, either in an attempt to derail the escalating disagreement or legitimately try to correct her. "She was my mom."

"That's still the most unconvincing lie I've ever heard, Rose."

Steven did look genuinely troubled about being called this, and Yellow felt the need to defend him even if Jasper clearly wasn't going to listen to her either. "He's not Rose Quartz. Rose Quartz is _gone._ "

"She is _not._ "

"She is."

"You're all cracked if you think I'm going to believe this tiny runt isn't Rose Quartz. I've seen the gem. I've seen the shield."

"I'm not saying he isn't Rose Quartz the gem, I'm saying he isn't Rose Quartz the rebel leader!"

"And you think I'll take _your_ word for it?" There was so much scorn in Jasper's voice that it was easy for Yellow to hear the unspoken implications. _Your word._ Worthless. Defective. Nothing.

Hurt flared in her gem, and it was all she could do to rein herself in and not snap back with something ten times worse. Steven didn't need to be witness to her at her worst. "You're not going to take the word of anyone here, because you think we're all far too beneath you to matter!"

"Considering that the only so-called Crystal Gems I've seen are a fusion, an overcooked Amethyst, that irritating Peridot that dragged me here, a couple of Pearls, and _this thing?_ " Jasper gestured to Steven. "Yes, I do think that. Come on, Rose, this whole act is just pathetic."

Steven flinched, and something in Yellow snapped. "Look, I don't care what an ancient lump of Quartz like you thinks, but if you insult him one more time, I will be more than happy to stab you through that gem-forsaken diamond on your chest and—"

"You just _try_ , Pearl."

"I wouldn't even need to try, you pitiful—"

"Yellow," Steven interrupted anxiously, catching her by the elbow. "It's okay, don't—"

"It is _not_ okay, Steven, I have had it up to _here_ with gems like her." She marched straight up to the force field, looking down her nose at Jasper. "You're not on Homeworld, nobody cares if you're a war hero, and if I were you I'd stop antagonizing the gems keeping me prisoner before you say something you'll regret."

Jasper glared at her for a few long moments before averting her attention pointedly. "You really have a thing for feisty Pearls, don't you, Rose?" she asked lazily. "Nice of Yellow Diamond to have that one all trained and ready for you."

Yellow's jaw set, eyes hardening as she locked eyes with Jasper again. "Funny, and here I thought you were the one she trained. Somebody had to after your Diamond got herself shattered, right?"

Jasper snarled.

"Come on, Steven, let's go," Yellow said abruptly, turning her back on their prisoner. "We're not going to get anywhere with her."

Head high, shoulders straight, _pretend you're the bigger gem even if you aren't._ She refused to show even the slightest weakness in front of gems like Jasper.

Once they were back in the house, Yellow glanced down at Steven, relaxing her posture minutely. "Are you alright?" she asked briskly.

He nodded, though he still looked rather downcast. "Thanks for defending me."

"My pleasure."

"…I haven't heard you talk like that before."

She smirked halfheartedly. "Well, you never saw me in my element." She hesitated, faltering. "It's a reflex. Only way I used to have to keep bigger gems from walking all over me."

"Oh."

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"No, it's okay. Just, um, don't actually stab her, okay? I still want to try and explain things."

"Okay," Yellow agreed, relieved. "Just don't get your hopes up. Quartzes are stubborn."

"I know," Steven laughed.

Her eyes softened slightly. "I suppose you do."

He tugged lightly at her hand. "Are _you_ okay? Jasper said some pretty mean things to you too."

"I'm used to it," Yellow said dismissively.

"I'm sorry."

She looked down in surprise to find him holding her hand tightly.

"You shouldn't have to be used to it," Steven said quietly.

"I…" Her voice caught in her throat, and she had to pause for a moment. "Thanks," she said finally.

He nodded, still holding on. "Do you want to stay here for a little while? We could do something fun."

Yellow was prepared to say no again, but stars, she was _tired_ all of a sudden _._ It wouldn't hurt to take a little more time to relax; there wasn't anything urgent that needed doing. "Okay," she agreed.

"Wait, really?" Steven seemed surprised.

She nodded.

"Great!" He gave her a quick hug. "How's a movie sound?"

"Good."

It took her about one and a half movies to finally calm down, the panicky pressure around her gem fading as she reminded herself that she was on Earth, with Steven on one side and Blue's gem on the other, and she hadn't alienated him by lapsing into the way she acted back on Homeworld.

She wasn't worthless here, and everything would be fine.

* * *

Day five.

She definitely missed Blue, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it, so she busied herself with other things to keep her mind occupied.

"You look like you could use some company," Garnet said, coming up behind her as she practiced her summoning again.

She could, but the gem she wanted to talk to wasn't available, and it seemed a bit pathetic to bother the leader of the Crystal Gems with her thoughts.

It turned out it wasn't really a question though, and Garnet joined her without waiting for a response.

"That's not really necessary," Yellow protested.

"Doesn't mean it's a bad idea."

"…I suppose." Yellow waited for Garnet to say something, or maybe ask a question, but she just sat there, watching her work.

She was fairly certain they were making some kind of group effort to keep her company while Blue was gone, which was kind but also a little bit embarrassing.

It almost startled her when the fusion finally did speak up. "Blue will be fine, if you were wondering."

"Of course she will," Yellow said briskly, with more confidence than she had. "Surely you have more important uses for your precognition than that."

Garnet gave her a bemused look, lips twitching into a smirk. "You don't care much for sympathy, do you?"

"Sympathy's fine," Yellow muttered. "Having superiors drop in unexpectedly is never a good sign, that's all."

"I'm not your superior."

"Close enough."

Garnet looked mildly uncomfortable at the insinuation, though she didn't say anything.

"Sorry. Why are you here then?"

The small frown on her lips eased. "I just wanted to get you out of your own head. It seems to be something of a tendency amongst Pearls, getting caught up in something and not being able to stop."

"I hadn't noticed," Yellow said dryly. "But thanks, I suppose. It gets quiet without Blue." That was one sentence more than she'd intended to say, and she fixed her eyes back on the ground.

"I know the feeling."

It took Yellow a moment to realize that was more her two component gems talking than herself. "You told Green she could ask you questions about fusion," she began hesitantly. "Does that go for us individually too?"

"Of course," Garnet answered easily. "What do you want to know?"

Yellow turned to face her fully. "I know you don't unfuse often, but…when you do, and you're injured, do your Ruby and Sapphire take an equally proportioned amount of damage?"

"That's always been the case, yes."

"So one gem shouldn't take away more than…?"

"No," Garnet agreed. "Even if Ruby or Sapphire _wanted_ to take on the burden to spare the other pain—and believe me, there have been times they wanted to—it wouldn't be possible. It's not a conscious decision."

Yellow nodded. "I don't understand what happened then."

"To be perfectly honest, neither do I," she admitted. "But there's nothing you could've done, Yellow. It wasn't your fault."

She hadn't even found the courage to voice the question, and it had been answered. She wasn't sure if that was nice or infuriating. "Are you sure, or are you just saying that?" she asked sharply.

"I'm sure." Garnet slipped her visor off, smiling. "And just saying. You and I both know you wouldn't do anything to cause harm to her."

"I'm not saying _intentionally_ , just…what if fusing is hurting her somehow?"

"It's not."

"But—"

"Neither of you were hurt after your first fusion."

"I know. That's…That's true," she said quietly. "But it still feels like we shouldn't do it anymore."

"Is that what you want?"

"No," she murmured. "No, of course not."

Garnet's eyes softened. "Then don't make any snap decisions."

"I wasn't going to. That's more Blue's area than mine."

She laughed. "Alright." A warm hand fell on Yellow's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "You can figure out what to do together. For now, try not to worry about it too much."

"Okay." She _was_ trying.

"I really do mean it when I say she'll be fine. The odds are heavily in her favor."

Yellow nodded, throat tight with an emotion she couldn't name. "Thanks."

"No problem." Garnet slipped her visor back on, inclining her head slightly as she stood. "Blue's lucky to have you."

It was almost reassuring, and she appreciated it.

* * *

Day six.

Yellow was continuing to avoid the barn and her usual excuse to leave—training—wasn't available that evening since Pearl was out on a mission, so instead she went back out to the field she'd been frequenting and watched the sun start to go down and tried to think of something more interesting to do.

There was perhaps an hour of daylight left when she was startled by a brightness to her right. She turned immediately to see Blue's gem rising off the ground and scrambled backwards to give her space as the light shaped itself into numerous forms—five silhouettes she didn't recognize, then the familiar skirt she always saw her in back on Homeworld, and then what she barely had time to recognize as her renegade outfit before Blue dropped gracefully to the ground.

She looked very nearly unchanged—which made sense, because she was attached to this outfit and it would be convenient to make the change permanent—though she had shortened her bangs considerably. Her eyes were unobscured as she looked up, small pieces of wavy hair stopping a little above her eyebrows.

She noticed Yellow immediately, a small smile appearing on her face as they made eye contact. "Hi."

"Hi," Yellow replied faintly, and it felt like a weight had been lifted. Blue was there, and she was whole, like nothing had even happened.

The next second, Blue was making a surprised, happy sound as she found herself in a hug—not a particularly _good_ one, Yellow knew, because she'd mostly just been in a hurry and she hadn't even thought through the idea.

"Good to see you too," Blue murmured, tilting her head to press her cheek to Yellow's.

The words startled her, and she immediately let go and put a good yard between them, cheeks flushed a deep gold. "Sorry. Are you—"

"I'm fine," she said with a smile, twirling once in place before coming closer to Yellow again. "Good as new."

Yellow cracked a small smile. "You're hardly _new._ "

"Oh, come on, I thought I'd caught you in a good mood, don't start calling me old yet!" She toyed fondly with the little piece of hair that curled in front of Yellow's left ear. "Was I gone long?"

"Six days," she answered, looking away as they both took a seat on the grass. "Pearl was saying you might take a couple weeks. You didn't rush things, did you?"

"No, it just went quick for some reason. I guess since I knew what I wanted and I'm not trying to impress a Diamond." She looked around. "Where is everyone? Are they alright?"

"Yeah, they're fine. Malachite separated. We're still working out what to do with that annoying Jasper, but the Lazuli's decided to stick around."

"Oh, that's good." She wasn't sure how to feel about having a Lapis Lazuli from her Diamond's old court around, but she'd worry about that later. More importantly, everyone was safe. She turned her attention back to Yellow. "And you? What have you been up to? Sitting around waiting for me under the stars?"

She'd meant it as a joke, but Yellow immediately shrank back guiltily. "No," she muttered. "I just assumed you'd want—never mind." She made to stand up. "It wasn't necessary; you've done this before."

"Yellow, no," Blue said quickly, catching her arm. "I was just teasing. I didn't expect it from you, that's all. I figured you had better things to do."

Blue clearly meant it as self-deprecation rather than a criticism, but it still stung. "I didn't, actually," she said stiffly, jerking away and beginning to pick at the tops of her socks. "My apologies for not knowing the proper protocol for this kind of situation."

"…Sorry," Blue murmured, wincing. "That was a terrible thing to say; I'm just thinking like a Pearl. I really do appreciate you being here."

"It's okay," Yellow replied, glancing up with the beginnings of a smirk on her lips. "Next time I'll just put you in a corner and go about my business."

"You _wouldn't_ ," Blue laughed. She took Yellow's hand again, eyes bright with happiness. "Really though," she said seriously, "thank you for staying with me. I got used to always reforming on my own, so…I'm happy you were here."

And for some reason, _that_ was the overwhelming part. Maybe just because she'd been telling herself she was being ridiculous ever since the whole thing started, and it felt validating to know her efforts hadn't been a waste. "You're welcome," she managed in a small voice, a tremor running through the hand Blue held.

She smiled faintly, rubbing a thumb over the slight curve of Yellow's wrist. "Have _you_ been doing okay?" she asked gently.

"I'm fine."

"Really?"

" _Yes_ , really," she insisted. "I'm fine. You're fine. I—I don't know what I was so worried about; there's no reason you wouldn't have been and—" Her voice cracked and she yanked her hand away, bringing it up to cover her mouth as she bit back a sob.

"Yellow…" Blue reached out again, but the other Pearl recoiled.

"O-Oh, stars, why am I—" Tears slipped down her flushed cheeks and she swiped them away roughly, staring down at her hands in confusion. "You're _fine._ You're fine, and everything's back to normal, why am I doing this _now?_ "

"It's okay," Blue said softly, scooting closer. "It's okay, really, you're allowed to cry."

"I _don't_ cry, I've _never_ cried, this doesn't make any _sense!_ " Yellow protested in a wavering voice. "I should at least have a good reason for it, not just—" She gestured helplessly to the room at large.

"It's okay," she repeated, reaching up to place a hand on Yellow's cheek. "You were stressed about what happened, that's all."

"Regardless, I'd like to stop now," she said, turning her face away.

Blue laughed gently, letting her hand rest on Yellow's shoulder instead. "I don't think that's how it works. Come here?"

Yellow nodded, letting Blue pull her into a warm embrace and tucking her face against her shoulder.

"Thank you for looking after me," Blue whispered. "That means so much to me, Yellow."

Her fingers tightened briefly on Blue's shirt, shoulders hitching.

"I'm sorry I made you worry." She swept a hand down Yellow's back, then back up. "I'm okay, I promise."

Yellow laughed shakily, tears dampening Blue's shoulder. "Okay."

She held Yellow close for a while longer, until the tension had left her and she was just resting against Blue's shoulder quietly.

"Well, that was thoroughly unpleasant," Yellow muttered finally. "I think I'd like to wait at least another thousand years before it happens again."

"I hope you're talking about the crying and not the hugging," Blue said lightly as Yellow pulled away.

"I am."

She laughed, reaching up to smudge away the last traces of tears from Yellow's face. "Good. We'll just call this another new Earth experience."

"Great." She froze a second later. "Stars, that's half the Crystal Gem thing, isn't it? Crying and singing?"

"Don't worry, I'm halfway there too," Blue said fondly, squeezing her hand. "Are you feeling better, at least?"

"…I think so." She scrubbed at her eyes with her free hand. "Sorry."

"It's alright, I don't mind. You were overdue for some crying if that was your first time." Blue moved around to sit beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "And I did miss you too," she added gently. "I came back as soon as I could. I knew you'd make a fuss if I rushed it though."

"Yes, I would have," Yellow agreed, leaning into her touch with a small sigh. "Better to do things right. Your hair looks good, by the way."

"Oh, you noticed!" Blue said, sounding pleased.

"Of course I noticed; I've been watching you mess with it for months." She reached into her gem and pulled out the two hair clips she'd saved. "I figured you might want them back, even if you don't need them."

"I do," she replied, looking relieved. "Thank you."

"No problem."

Blue offered the clips back to Yellow hopefully, and the other Pearl turned slightly to slip them into Blue's hair. "…So you think it's alright like this?" Blue asked, watching her.

"It's a lot more practical," Yellow replied, clicking the second one into place. "And yes, I suppose it suits you."

Blue smiled, reaching up to touch the accessories briefly. "Thanks." It was the first time she'd ever made a change on her own, without being told. The outfit was too, but it was a copy of Pearl's, not anything of her own design.

"You're really feeling alright?" she checked. "Nothing out of the ordinary?"

"Nothing at all." Blue caught Yellow's hand in her own and pulled it towards her gem, letting the tips of Yellow's fingers brush the warm surface. "See for yourself."

She blinked, surprised, eyes darting up to Blue's. "Can I?"

She nodded. "You've been carrying me around for days; I don't think there's any reason to be shy about it now." She paused, smiling. "Not that I minded before either."

"I wasn't _literally_ carrying you around that whole time, you know," Yellow replied, trying to fight back a blush. "It's not like I was going sightseeing."

"Well, maybe next time you should." Blue tugged lightly at her hand. "Did you want to or not?"

Yellow slowly relaxed, letting her hand curve around the smooth surface of Blue's gem, resting it there in silence for a few moments. "Well," she said finally, feeling inexplicably relieved, "I guess you've always been pretty durable."

"Is that a compliment?"

"It was supposed to be."

"Oh, good, it was a nice one."

Yellow laughed, drawing her hand back.

Blue looked mildly disappointed at the loss of contact, but she smiled, happy to see Yellow starting to relax. "Thanks for sticking around," she said fondly.

"You too." Yellow dipped her head and placed a light kiss on Blue's gem because it seemed appropriately spontaneous and, well, she wanted to. "Welcome back."

A blaze of deep blue appeared on the other Pearl's cheeks and she touched her gem lightly. "I'll have to get poofed more often," she murmured, surprised.

"I'd rather you didn't."

Blue just laughed and fell back onto the grass comfortably, tugging at Yellow's arm to get her to do the same. "Thanks."

"We should probably go tell the others you're back," Yellow pointed out.

"In a minute," she agreed, intertwining their fingers securely. "It seems like a good night for stargazing."

"Yeah," Yellow agreed quietly, face warm as Blue cuddled up closer. "It does."


	17. Chapter 17

Blue and Yellow returned to the house together, only to be reminded upon arrival that it was rather late and Steven wasn't awake, so they knocked lightly on the temple door instead.

A few seconds later, Pearl's door slid open and she peered out worriedly for a moment before taking in the two gems before her, face brightening. "Come in," she whispered, beckoning them through the door. She clasped Blue's hands in her own as soon as the door was shut. "Welcome back! It's so good to see you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, thanks," Blue replied with a smile.

"That's wonderful." Pearl turned to Yellow. "No abnormalities when she was reforming?" she checked.

"Not that I could see," she answered.

"Really, I don't know why you two are so worried," Blue laughed. "It happens."

"Yes, but it doesn't usually happen quite like _that._ " Pearl let go and walked in a quick circle around her. "You certainly seem alright, though. Would you let me run a few tests on your gem later?"

"Tests?" she repeated uneasily, taking a small step back.

"Nothing invasive, just a couple scans to be sure there's no damage."

"Oh. Yes, that would be alright." Blue fidgeted in place. "After that, can I get back to training right away? I've been gone for a while and I don't want to lose my progress."

"I don't see any reason not to resume in the morning," she returned with a quick smile. "Yellow's been doing very well; you'll have some catching up to do."

She turned to Yellow, eyes bright. "You haven't summoned yet, have you?"

"What? No, but I'm practicing."

"Oh, good, I didn't want to miss that!"

Her face flushed a warm gold at Blue's enthusiasm. "Well, you haven't," she said awkwardly.

To her relief, they were immediately interrupted by the arrival of Garnet and Amethyst.

"Hey, you're back!" Amethyst exclaimed, running over to give Blue a quick hug around the waist. "I like the hair."

"Thanks," she replied, blushing. "It was bothering me."

"This suits you better," Garnet agreed, placing a hand on Blue's shoulder. "Glad to have you back."

"Sorry I was gone so long," Blue said apologetically.

"What are you talking about?" Amethyst laughed. "You beat Pearl's fastest time by a mile."

"Pearls aren't made to regenerate quickly," Pearl huffed. "And you never saw me during the war! One time I managed to come back within three days."

"And you were exhausted for three more because you didn't take your time," Garnet pointed out, not unkindly.

"Well…yes," she admitted. "I'm just saying it's _possible_ for me to do it faster. Anyway, good job, Blue. Steven will be pleased to see you when he wakes up too."

She nodded shyly, not really sure what to do with all the attention.

"Have you met Lapis yet?" Amethyst asked.

"No. Or, um, yes, but…not here." Blue shrugged. "I've seen in her in court a few times, though I never spoke to her myself. She's your ally now?"

"I don't know if I'd go that far," Pearl replied, "but she's Steven's ally, at least."

"Oh. That's good; Lapis Lazulis can be pretty powerful gems."

"She's not using her abilities much right now," Yellow said, "just hanging around the barn and flying off with Steven every now and then."

"She's what?" Pearl asked shrilly.

"It's fine, she's taking good care of him," Garnet said calmly.

"She could at least _ask_ first."

Blue laughed uneasily. "Well, she seemed…kind of friendly from what I saw of her," she said.

Yellow shrugged in agreement.

"And Jasper?" Blue asked.

Amethyst laughed. "Definitely _not_ friendly."

"Steven's been trying to talk to her," Pearl said with a frown, "but I'm not sure we've made much progress."

Blue nodded, glancing briefly to Yellow and noting her stony expression before changing the subject. "Well, um, perhaps you could catch me up on things once Steven's awake? Yellow and I were going to go back out to the barn tonight so she can show me the ship."

Pearl smiled. "I think that can be arranged. Come by in the morning whenever you'd like."

Blue nodded, gratefully accepting the extra hugs she received from all of them before saying a quick goodbye and exiting with Yellow in tow.

"Since when do we have plans?" Yellow asked, raising her eyebrows.

"What, you _don't_ want to show me what you've been working on?"

"I'd rather not walk in on another roommate argument, if it's all the same to you."

Blue laughed and shook her head. "Okay, later then. It was just supposed to be an excuse to go stargazing with you again, you know."

"No thanks."

"Stars, you're hard to please," she teased Yellow. "What _would_ you like to do?"

"I don't know," she said. "I suppose stargazing is fine for a little while. Can I bring something to do?"

"Sure," Blue agreed with a quick smile. "That works for me. So we _should_ go by the barn?"

"If you've still got all those spare parts in your gem, then no."

"Oh, of course," she replied. "Sorry, I guess that was kind of inconvenient when I wasn't here."

"Just a bit," Yellow said with a smirk. "Come on then, let's go."

* * *

Blue's plans for training were promptly thrown out the window when Steven woke up and saw she was back.

"We have to celebrate," he said, already halfway to the kitchen after throwing on some daytime clothes. "With a tea party! Yellow likes tea, did she tell you?"

"She didn't, actually," she replied, eyes sparkling with mischief as she turned to the other Pearl.

"I would have eventually! You've barely been back half a day."

"Mm-hm," Blue hummed, a teasing lilt in her voice. " _Eventually._ " She gave Yellow a little nudge. "I'll try some since you like it."

"It'll be fun!" Steven agreed. "And I bought you some more lollipops too as a welcome back present." He pulled a bag from the cabinet.

"Oh, thank you!"

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Yellow, Blue, and Steven all sat around the kitchen, a little squashed together. Pearl—to Blue's surprise—made the tea, saying she enjoyed the preparation despite the fact that she didn't drink it.

Steven, meanwhile, had Garnet and Amethyst assist him with arranging the snacks onto fancy little plates, which mostly ended up a contest of whether he and Garnet could prepare and deliver the food faster than Amethyst could eat it.

Yellow wasn't really sure what the _point_ was, when Amethyst was likely going to be doing the majority of the eating anyway, but they seemed to be having fun so she didn't say anything.

"I don't know about this," Blue mused after her first sip of tea. "It's kind of bland."

"You can add sugar and junk," Amethyst said helpfully, shoving the sugar bowl across the table.

"Yeah, and milk," Steven offered, handing that over as well.

"Oh, alright." Blue helped herself to a spoonful of sugar and a bit of milk and then took another sip. Wrinkling her nose, she added more sugar, tried it again, and continued this little ritual until Yellow was fairly sure there was more sugar than tea in the cup. "You're right," she said brightly, turning to Yellow. "This is good."

"I don't think that's tea anymore," she said dryly, warming her hands on her own half-empty cup.

"Aww, sure it is," Amethyst said. "That's nowhere _near_ the weirdest way I've had tea."

"Don't ask," Garnet advised them. "Pearl still has nightmares about the clean-up."

"You can't have nightmares if you don't sleep," Pearl said. She narrowed her eyes at Amethyst. "Please do _not_ recreate what happened."

"Okay, okay," she laughed.

"Anyway," Blue said, lifting her chin dramatically as she spoke, "I am a free Pearl and I can do whatever I like with my tea, thank you."

"I'm sure your Diamond will feel very threatened by that," Yellow returned with a smirk.

"I _know._ "

The six of them sat around talking for the rest of the morning, Blue more than content to sit with them and enjoy everyone's company. It was such a nice change from her other regenerations—not rushed back to be inspected by her Diamond or be pushed into her usual duties. Just welcomed back, like they'd missed her. That was new.

* * *

After a while, their little party began to break up, Garnet and Amethyst heading out while Pearl stayed behind with the others, happily recounting a story from sometime between the end of the war and the beginning of Steven—Yellow didn't really know when exactly.

When Pearl finally wrapped it up and pretended to sip at her tea again and Blue got up to get some more sugar from the kitchen, Steven leaned over to Yellow.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" he said curiously, looking a little nervous.

"Yeah."

He hesitated, not quite meeting her eyes. "What did you mean about Jasper's Diamond the other day?"

"Pink Diamond?" she asked, surprised.

Pearl's untouched cup of tea clattered on its saucer, barely keeping from spilling. "Excuse me?" she said loudly.

"Pink Diamond?" Steven asked simultaneously. "I thought she worked for Yellow Diamond."

"Well, sure, she does now. But she used to be one of Pink Diamond's soldiers, just like—"

"That's enough," Pearl interrupted sharply. "Yellow, may I speak with you outside?"

Yellow snapped her mouth shut; it was more than apparent that she'd crossed some line she hadn't known existed. She nodded curtly, standing.

"Um, Pearl—"

"We'll be right back, Steven."

He nodded, mouthing a quick "sorry" to Yellow when they made eye contact, though he looked as confused as she was.

Pearl led the way out, and Yellow was about to ask what was going on when she turned abruptly towards her. "What were you thinking?" she asked, voice low and not-quite-angry.

"…About what?" Yellow asked in return.

"About—" Pearl stopped and pointedly pulled Yellow a little farther away from the door before continuing. "About telling Steven what happened to Pink Diamond!"

"What?" Yellow said blankly.

"You can't just go around telling him things like that," she hissed. "He didn't know, and it's not your place."

"My _place?_ " she repeated, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes, your—" Pearl finally seemed to process the words and pressed a weary hand to her gem. "You know what I mean. You've only been here a few months, that's all."

"Oh, please," Yellow snapped, now boiling with embarrassed indignation. "Don't treat me like I'm incompetent for making the reasonable assumption that Steven knows his own history. Why _wouldn't_ he know? After all, it was Rose Quartz that—"

" _Keep your voice down_ ," Pearl hissed.

"What for?" Yellow stared her down. "He _should_ know."

"That's not your decision to make."

"Well, it's not yours either!"

"Stars, please tell me you didn't say anything about Rose being responsible, because—"

"What's going on out here?" Blue interrupted, leaning halfway out the door to squint at them in the bright sun.

"As far as I understand it, Pearl's angry with me because I told Steven something that's common knowledge," Yellow replied, crossing her arms.

"I'm not angry, I'm just trying to make a point!" Pearl interjected. "It may be common knowledge on Homeworld, but—"

"But here it's supposedly _different_ ," Yellow interrupted scathingly. "Because clearly withholding information from gems is what makes you more noble than Homeworld."

"I resent that implication!"

" _Good._ "

"Okay," Blue said, closing the door firmly behind her. "Could you both stop arguing for a minute and explain what happened, please?"

Pearl took a deep breath, purposefully breaking eye contact with Yellow and curling her hands around the railing. "Yellow apparently mentioned Pink Diamond to Steven or in front of Steven, and I was _attempting_ to tell her that Steven wasn't ready to hear all of that information. Moreover, as his guardians, it's our job to present him with the details, not yours. It wasn't meant to turn into an argument."

Yellow scowled, taking a step away from Pearl and towards Blue defensively. "My apologies for not taking kindly to being _put in my place_ , Renegade."

"I told you, I didn't mean it like that."

"Well, say what you mean then! If you had just told him in the first place, this wouldn't be a problem."

"If you hadn't _said_ anything, this wouldn't be a problem."

"Oh, so it's my fault that you've conveniently avoided that part of the Crystal Gems' history—"

"Would you both stop already?" Blue interrupted loudly.

Yellow broke off abruptly, glaring at Pearl.

"Yellow," Blue said pointedly, "what did you tell Steven?"

"I didn't _tell him_ anything," she replied darkly. "I was talking to Jasper and he happened to be present."

"You were talking to Jasper about _Pink Diamond being shattered?_ " Blue asked, raising her eyebrows. "I don't even know the gem and I know that's a terrible idea."

"She had it coming," Yellow muttered. "She was being a—a clod. _Worse_ than a clod."

"What did she say?" Pearl asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Nonsense. Quartz posturing. Still wants to believe Steven is the rebel leader that killed her Diamond. Thinks the Crystal Gems are a joke these days, et cetera, et cetera."

"Much as I hate to say it, that's to be expected," Pearl sighed. "She isn't going to immediately accept everything the way Steven wants her to."

"Well, she can keep her mouth shut while she's not accepting it," Yellow said darkly. "I may not be Steven's 'guardian' or whatever, but I'm not blind. She's messing with his head."

"What do you mean?" she asked sharply.

"I mean you need to put her in her place before she starts treating _him_ like a worthless trinket as well."

Blue's hand slipped over her wrist, gliding down to settle between Yellow's tense fingers. "You aren't worthless," she murmured.

Pearl sighed, eyes softening. "No, you aren't," she agreed. "I'm sorry. I know how…taxing it can be to talk to Jasper. To be honest, I've only seen her twice since she's been here, and she was only conscious one of those times." She gave Yellow a quick, hopeful smile. "I appreciate you trying to protect Steven from all of that."

She nodded.

"But we haven't taken the time to tell him about Pink Diamond yet," she continued. "And that…that's my job. Mine and Garnet's and Amethyst's. Rose left that responsibility to us."

"I understand," Yellow said reluctantly.

"And that conversation _will_ happen soon. It has to, now that so much of the past is…relevant. But please let us be the ones to do it."

"Alright," she agreed, relaxing minutely. "I won't say anything until you've spoken to him."

"Me neither," Blue added.

"I appreciate it." Pearl took a hesitant step forward, placing a hand on either of their shoulders. "I think the best thing to do is work hard and show Jasper some solid proof that we're not just accessories. How does that sound?"

"Good," Blue replied with a smile.

"Yeah."

And it felt odd to Yellow, exchanging heated words with someone and not walking away with the same anger or hurt she would have been left with on Homeworld. Pearl didn't seem to be holding any sort of grudge; she just gave Yellow an awkward, sort of reassuring pat on the shoulder and walked back inside.

 _Earth_ , Yellow thought dismissively, trying to shake off the unease that always came with having done something she wasn't supposed to.

Steven was quick to change the subject to something lighter when they returned, likely sensing he had gotten Yellow into trouble, since he offered her about ten different samples of tea to try and lavished her with positive attention for far longer than she was used to.

He still had questions, they could all tell, but he managed to hold them back for the time being.

When they were all finished, Steven went off to Beach City to meet up with Connie, while Blue, Yellow, and Pearl finished cleaning up.

"So what should we do for the rest of the day?" Blue asked Yellow as she dried the dishes and set them carefully on the counter. "Are you up for sparring? Because I'm itching to get back to training and—"

"Not until Pearl looks at your gem."

She grimaced. "I really don't know what you two are so worried about. I got hurt, I dissipated, and now I'm back."

"You shouldn't have taken more damage than I did when we unfused," Yellow said sharply. "I've talked to Garnet and the others; it's not normal."

"Well…"

"She's right, it isn't," Pearl agreed. "How about you let me take a look, and then you can be free to train as much as you like?"

"Alright," Blue agreed with a small sigh. She was still reluctant to do it, but it was better to get it over with sooner.

When they were done, Pearl slipped back into her room to grab the equipment she needed while the other two waited in the kitchen, Yellow watching Blue pick through the new bag of lollipops in an attempt to find a flavor she hadn't tried yet.

"Alright, here we go," Pearl announced when she returned. "This is just a small scanner, similar to what Kindergarteners use to make sure gems have formed properly. It's completely harmless," she added, "but if for any reason you need me to stop, then tell me."

Blue nodded, unwrapping a "mystery" lollipop and popping it into her mouth. "Okay."

"Alright, hold still."

It took approximately two minutes for the scan to complete, and there was no sign of discomfort at all on Blue's face as she watched the pale white light hit her gem.

"So what flavor is mystery?" Yellow asked while they waited, pointing to the candy wrapper.

"I have no idea, but it's good."

Pearl pulled the scanner back to examine the results, tilting the screen so Blue could see it as well. "Let's see then…yes, standard readings overall, that's good. Now down here, if we get into specifics, we have—oh. That's odd."

"What?" Blue asked, pulling the candy out of her mouth.

"I'm not entirely sure what." She frowned slightly. "I haven't got any data aside from my own to compare it to, so I admit it's hardly a perfect test, but…you show some _very_ different results." She pointed to the area in question. "Particularly in regards to gem structure and hardness. Pearls aren't usually quite this…"

"Maybe it malfunctioned?" Blue suggested as Pearl trailed off, thinking.

She shook her head. "I tested it out on Amethyst and me earlier, since I haven't used it in a while. There were no anomalies there."

"Oh."

"Would it help if you scan me too?" Yellow asked. "With all due respect, your gem isn't exactly standard."

" _Yellow_ ," Blue hissed, reprimanding.

"I assume you mean it's not round?" Pearl asked, raising an eyebrow but not looking particularly offended. "As far as I know, that doesn't make any difference. In my day, it was even desired by some gems—something unique for them to own."

"Until a particular renegade got everyone's attention," Blue said apologetically. "We're all made to be perfectly round now. Anything else is a defect." She glanced at Yellow. "It's not actually _true_ though; it's only an aesthetic change. And an awful excuse to get rid of Pearls who don't measure up."

"Oh, sorry," Yellow muttered. "Nobody ever bothers giving Pearls history lessons." She shrugged. "Regardless, more data isn't going to hurt."

"You're right," Pearl agreed. "May I?"

Yellow nodded, lifting her chin as Pearl scanned her gem.

When she had finished, she compared Yellow's data to hers and Blue's. "No," she mused, "your numbers are almost identical to mine. Meanwhile, Blue's is…well…" She showed her the screen. "Look, if we do a side-by-side comparison, we end up with this."

Yellow leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "Oh my stars, Blue, what _is_ that?"

"What are you talking about?"

" _This._ " She grabbed the screen and touched it a few times to pull up a graph. "Pearl and I are here, and you're way out _here_ by Amethyst."

"That's…strange?" Blue tilted her head. "Should I be concerned about that?"

"No, if the information is accurate, that's actually a _good_ thing," Pearl said. "It means your gem is more resilient than ours."

"Oh. _Oh._ Really?" Blue poked at her gem curiously. "I thought it was going to be another negative side effect from having the other Pearls there."

"It certainly seems that it's not, but I'm afraid that doesn't put us any closer to understanding what happened a few days ago."

"Oh, right." She spun the lollipop stick in her fingers. "So…?"

"Wait," Yellow said suddenly. "Maybe it _is_ another side effect."

"But—"

"A positive side effect," she clarified. "If we assume that what we just found is a result of having the other Pearls in your gem—which is the most likely cause, even if we don't have any solid evidence to back up that assumption—then we know that it wasn't a one-way transfer of strength like we'd thought."

"Which makes _sense_ ," Pearl declared. "Gem formation isn't exactly my area of expertise, but Rose and I studied it a fair bit during the war when we saw the results of the Beta Kindergarten. Gems normally pull in the nutrients needed from the planet to make themselves complete. Even if they aren't able to form in the way they're meant to, the gem tries to compensate however it can. That's true throughout a gem's life—and we use the time when we're inactive during regeneration to gather enough energy to return."

"And shards," Yellow said pointedly, "are essentially inactive gems. They might not have been _able_ to reform, but they were trying with whatever resources they had."

"Me," Blue concluded softly. "That's why my strength and my eyesight were affected."

Pearl nodded. "But the second part of that theory would be that your own gem compensated too. It was weakened, so it tried to pull back some of that energy."

"Right," Yellow agreed. "It was trying to keep some kind of balance—it just ended up manifesting in other areas."

"I think I get it," Blue said, glancing down at her gem again. "I guess I never noticed before because my gem structure doesn't really _matter_ most of the time."

"Yeah."

"…You don't think it hurt them, did it?"

Yellow shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't know."

Blue nodded, lowering her eyes.

They fell quiet for a few minutes, until Blue's head shot up.

"We exchanged energy—me and the others. That's why I took more damage."

"What?" Yellow asked, confused.

"We keep looking at Green as a two-gem fusion, but she's not." Blue laced her fingers together anxiously. "Our gems didn't know what to do when she unfused because I have extra…stuff. From the other Pearls."

Pearl's eyes lit up with realization. "They think you're more than one gem," she finished, "because you have residual traces from all the others. And it distributes the damage accordingly."

"Yeah, that," Blue said in a muted voice.

"It makes sense," Yellow agreed reluctantly, "but it's still just a theory."

"It's the best we've got," Blue said. "And it's always going to be just a theory, isn't it? I'll never really know for sure."

Yellow nodded. "I mean, you could test it out with various fusions, but…"

"No." Blue shook her head. "I don't want to do that."

"I know."

"This isn't inherently _bad_ ," Pearl tried to reassure Blue. "Your gem is stronger for it—harder to crack than the average Pearl. You just have to be careful; your fusions won't be able to take as many hits as most without it affecting you."

"I…yeah," she said faintly. "I…um…I think I'm just going to sit down for a moment."

Yellow immediately set the device in her hands aside and went to sit next to Blue instead.

"I'm sorry," Blue murmured, staring down at her knees.

"For what?" Yellow asked. "You didn't do anything."

"But I did. And I dragged Green into this too, and..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'll understand if you don't want to fuse with me anymore."

"Don't be such a pebble, Blue, of course I'll fuse with you," she said briskly.

"You will?"

"As long as we're not putting Green in a position where that happens again, sure. She'll just have to learn how to fight more defensively."

"Oh," Blue breathed. "Thank you. I'd like that."

Yellow nodded.

"…Give me a day or two? I need some time to process this."

"Okay."

Blue smiled and reached over, letting her hand rest briefly beside Yellow's gem, not quite touching. "Alright. So, um, I guess this means I'm cleared for training?" she asked, glancing over at Pearl.

"Oh, yes, I don't see why not," Pearl said quickly. "Do take care though."

"I will."

"Did you want to train now?" she asked. "It might help take your mind off things."

"Yeah, I think that would be good." Blue stood, offering Yellow a hand. "Want to show me what you've been working on?"

"Sure," she said, letting Blue pull her to her feet. "Sounds good."

Blue looked a bit distant, but she smiled and led the way to the warp pad, one hand clasped in front of her gem.

"Alright?" Yellow asked quietly as she joined her.

"I will be." She let her hand fall back to her side, a small smile curving her lips. "Believe it or not, this isn't the most life-changing revelation I've ever had."

Yellow and Pearl laughed, and Blue felt a little better.

She could handle this. She'd been able to deal with things bigger than a few gem abnormalities before, and she wasn't going to let this distract her from their larger goal.

And, honestly, she couldn't complain about the aftereffects left by the gems she'd salvaged. Even if she had known beforehand, it wouldn't have changed what she did.

Pearls had a strong sense of duty, after all, and Blue was just happy she was free to choose those duties now.


	18. Chapter 18

Pearl, Blue, and Yellow spent the next few hours doing some light sparring, which Blue really did find helpful in distracting from her lingering worries about Green, though they had yet to vanish completely.

"That was excellent!" Pearl said, applauding as they finished off the last round. "Yellow, your dual wielding has improved _immensely_ , I'm glad you chose to stick with it. And Blue, your spear technique is doing very well too; I'll give you some more tips later so you can make better use of its wider range."

"Thanks," Blue said, Yellow echoing her.

"Are you planning on focusing just on your summoned weapon or did you want to continue sword practice as well?"

"Um, I'd like to do both, honestly," she admitted. "I figured learning how to use my spear takes priority though. I'll keep at the sword training on my own."

"Alright, though I'm happy to assist whenever you like."

"I appreciate it."

"Same here," Yellow offered. "Even if I do manage to summon something, I'm sticking with swords, so I'll take whatever practice I can get."

"Wait, really?" Blue asked. "But the whole point of summoning is that you have the weapon you're best suited to, isn't it?"

"The weapon I'm best suited to right now is the one I know how to use." She slipped her swords into her gem with a flourish.

"That's a perfectly valid opinion too," Pearl agreed. "I used swords for many years before I learned to summon, and even then there was a rather tough transition period. I only used my spear in real battle towards the latter half of the war. I think I made Rose rather nervous," she laughed self-consciously. "We'd already had an extended discussion about the fact that she didn't want me sacrificing myself for her, and then I got poofed about three times in quick succession before I had a good handle on using my weapon."

" _Three?_ " Blue asked incredulously.

"Yes, it was rather embarrassing, honestly. But by that point, I'd earned the respect of the other gems in the rebellion, so there was no harm done."

"I'm pretty sure the Diamonds never heard about that either," she laughed. "I don't think they ever even realized you _had_ a summoned weapon."

"Yes, I'm sure it was already enough of a blow to lose to a gem so far beneath you; I doubt any of their soldiers would have dared take the specifics back to their Diamond." Pearl smiled. "Anyway, I should get back, it's nearly Steven's bedtime. You two rest as well, alright?"

"Will do," Blue agreed.

"I'll see you in the morning."

The two of them had never tried sleeping like humans did, but they did head over to their usual spot for a while and sat side by side, making occasional conversation like they used to back on Homeworld.

And in its strange way, that was calming for Blue, even though she couldn't find much energy to speak that night. She liked being able to see the night sky from Earth, and she was particularly happy not to be alone, so she curled up beside Yellow and rested her cheek against her shoulder and tried to tune out all the thoughts bouncing around in her mind.

 _Rest._

* * *

When the sun finally started to rise, the two of them returned to the barn, since Blue wanted to go say hello to Peridot after not having seen her the previous day.

The technician was working when they arrived, and Lapis was present too, up on the roof doing nothing in particular.

"Hi, Peridot," Blue greeted the smaller gem.

"Oh, hello! You're back."

"Since yesterday, actually."

"That fast for a—That's fast," she corrected herself immediately.

"Yeah, I think it's just my gem being weird again," she replied, keeping her tone light. "How have you been?" she asked politely.

Peridot seemed to genuinely consider the question for a moment. "I'm not sure," she said finally, "but I think we're doing better now."

"You and Lapis Lazuli?" Blue asked curiously.

"Mm-hm. We're roommates."

"Yeah, Yellow told me."

"Right. Well, we've made progress! She still doesn't really talk to me that much though."

"Ah." Blue glanced up.

"Maybe you should try," Peridot offered.

"I'm not sure she'd like to see me," she said quietly. "It's—We shared a Diamond, that's all. I don't think we have anything in common besides that."

"Well, you should at least introduce yourself," she declared. "Hey, Lazuli!" she shouted up to the gem on the roof.

"What?" Lapis called back down in a flat voice.

"Come down and meet Blue!"

There was an almost inaudible sigh from above, and a moment later Lapis dropped down to the grass gracefully. She landed just in front of Blue and immediately did a double take, brow furrowing.

"I'm Blue," she offered hesitantly, resisting the automatic urge to bow to a gem of higher status in her former court.

"Lapis," the other gem said warily. Her eyes flicked up and down Blue's form, clearly comparing her appearance to the one she'd had on Homeworld. "I didn't realize it was you."

"Yeah."

"I guess I never pinned you as the rebellious type."

Blue nodded stiffly. "Good. You weren't supposed to."

Lapis gazed at her impassively for a few long moments.

"Anyway, it's a pleasure to meet you," she added politely. "Sorry for, um, stabbing your fusion when I was a fusion."

The other gem let out an unexpected snort of laughter. "It's fine," she replied. "You two were protecting Steven."

Blue smiled, relieved. "Yes."

"Sorry Mala—Sorry she dissipated you," Lapis said uncomfortably.

"It's alright, it wasn't entirely your fault."

"Yeah," she muttered, not sounding entirely convinced. "Okay, well, now we've met. Bye."

Blue watched Lapis take off again, resettling on the roof. "That went better than I expected," she murmured.

"If you say so," Yellow replied.

"See, I told you she's starting to warm up to us!" Peridot boasted. "I'll make sure she has the best possible Earth experience!"

"Too late for that," Lapis called down.

"Just you wait!"

"Let's leave them to it," Yellow said, tugging Blue away. "We have training to do."

"Oh, right!" Blue brightened up considerably. "See you later, Peridot, Lapis!"

* * *

"When I said I wanted to train, this isn't exactly what I meant," Blue panted, coming to a halt beside the Holo-Pearl and giving it a weak high five. "Why are we just running laps?"

"Because it'll help," Pearl said cheerfully. "Good job, that's your second Pearl Point today."

"But Yellow got here first."

"Yes, but I think this is the first time you've actually complained about my teaching choices!"

"Oh. I'm…sorry?"

"No, don't be sorry, it's progress!" She patted Blue on the back. "It's good to see you're more comfortable speaking your mind. Now go run fifteen more laps, and then we'll take a break."

Blue nodded, flustered, and started running again.

"Me too?" Yellow asked.

"Yes, please."

She groaned and took off after Blue.

"Stay positive!" Pearl called after them.

Once they had finished up, they collapsed gratefully onto the sand for a break.

"This stuff is the worst," Yellow complained, meticulously tipping sand out of her shoes and pulling her socks back up.

"It provides resistance so your bodies have to work harder," Pearl pointed out.

"Can't it do that without getting into my shoes constantly?"

"You could go barefoot?" Blue suggested.

" _No thank you_ ," she replied. "Some of us prefer proper attire."

Blue laughed and shook her head. "Aren't you fancy."

They rested for a few more minutes before Pearl started up their actual practice, instructing them on a few new sword and spear techniques to add to their repertoires.

It was nice to get back to this, Blue thought. Nice to do something challenging but never impossible.

* * *

The three of them—Blue, Yellow, and Pearl—took to training on the beach quite often after that, despite the gradual shift of Earth's weather from warm to cool. It didn't really matter to them—they felt the change but didn't _feel_ it like humans seemed to, if the way Pearl bundled Steven up was anything to go by.

Blue knew, though they never really talked about it much, that they were there not just to train but to do what Pearl had said before—show Jasper that they weren't _just_ Pearls like she thought.

She wasn't too sure it was doing much at first, because the Quartz spent most of her time pointedly ignoring them. But as a few days passed, she caught the occasional glance over and could tell they'd, at the very least, sparked some tiny bit of curiosity. Jasper was a soldier, she could appreciate technique.

Still, Blue was surprised when the Quartz called out to her one day as she was practicing alone.

"Hey, Pearl!"

Blue turned towards the rough voice. "Are you talking to me?" she called back.

"Yeah, come over here."

"No thank you," she said, pointedly flourishing her spear as she rested it on the ground. "And I'm not Pearl."

Jasper gave her a skeptical, squinty glare. "You look like one."

"I mean I'm not called Pearl. Not here." She leaned a little of her weight against her spear, feeling surprisingly in control of the situation despite the way Quartzes used to intimidate her. Then again, last time she'd met one on Homeworld she'd stabbed her with a destabilizer. Hardly a real fight, but it definitely did something for your confidence. "Pearl's the white one. Gem on her forehead, star on her chest?" she called, pointing to each in turn to demonstrate the differences.

"The renegade Pearl."

"That's right," Blue said lightly. "I'm called Blue. And my friend who you were incredibly rude to before is called Yellow."

Jasper gave her a long look. "Yeah, alright, sure."

"So what did you want?" she asked.

"I want you to come over here so I don't have to shout everything."

Blue took a second to consider, then grasped her spear securely and strode over to the destabilizing field farther up the beach. She kept some distance from it, enough to be safe but not enough to make it look like she was scared. "Alright, _now_ what do you want?"

"I want to talk. I have questions, and no one else is answering them, so I thought I'd try you."

She frowned. "Steven's been trying to talk to you ever since you got here; you're the one who hasn't wanted to cooperate."

"Yeah, well, the little Rose Quartz imposter never sticks around for long anymore; she's always got one of the others with her."

"He," Blue corrected her.

"What?"

"He. There's a difference. It's a human thing."

Jasper tossed her head irritably. "Great, some other arbitrary nonsense the Crystal Gems adopted."

Blue kept her mouth shut. She couldn't quite get a read on the larger gem—she seemed far less hostile than usual, but still very prickly. And prickly Quartzes were always dangerous.

"I want to know what you're _doing_ with me," she continued. "There has to be something more to this than just…keeping me here."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's as far ahead as they thought," Blue replied, barely managing to hide her smile.

Jasper stared at her.

"Look, there's not some master plan everybody's keeping a secret. You were awful to them, but they're not going to torture you or shatter you or anything."

"Why _not?_ " she demanded. "I'm a prisoner of war, aren't I?"

"Because that's not how Crystal Gems do things."

"Oh, that's _rich_ ," Jasper said angrily. "They don't shatter gems, but they make an exception for a Diamond?"

Blue bit her lip. "I wasn't there for that. Maybe they were desperate, maybe it was a mistake… To be honest, it doesn't matter a whole lot to me. I trust the gems they've proven themselves to be in my time here."

"How touching," she muttered sarcastically.

"But the point is, you're not at war." Blue pointed up at the temple. "And if they wanted, they could have just stuck you in a bubble with all the other gems who couldn't withstand the Diamonds' retaliation. That would have been really, really easy. But they didn't do it."

"Because you all want me to suffer?" Jasper snarled. "This is _humiliating_."

"Steven doesn't understand that. He's trying to help you."

"He's _Rose Quartz._ Of course he understands!"

"No, he doesn't!" Blue said sharply. "He's not like us. He doesn't have years and years of Homeworld telling him what he was supposed to be. He didn't have to fight as soon as he was made. He's not a soldier, not like you, and you can't treat him like one."

"All Quartzes are soldiers, that's what we're made for."

"Are you really sure you want to talk to a _Pearl_ holding a _weapon_ about what gems are supposed to be made for?"

"You're defective. Rose Quartz isn't."

Blue took a deep breath, fighting back her frustration. "Okay," she said slowly, "let's say, for the sake of argument, I _am_ defective. If I'm defective, that means Blue Diamond kept a defective Pearl for thousands of years and never noticed. If I'm defective, it doesn't matter what kind of shape your gem is, something can still go wrong. If I'm defective, every other gem could be as well. Where does that leave us?"

Jasper hesitated.

"When it was just Pearl, I'm sure it was easy to rationalize her as an anomaly. And she was, at the time. She was the only one brave enough to do that. But there's three of us here now. We all belonged to Diamonds, we all ran away, we all chose to devote ourselves to something besides our original purpose, and we all do things Pearls aren't supposed to be able to do. We're not an anomaly, Jasper. We're not defective."

Conflicting emotions warred in Jasper's eyes. "That's not possible," she said. "That's not—We're made to serve our Diamonds."

"Oh, I'm not contesting that," Blue said, voice softening. "I know why I was made. I'm just saying that I have the freedom to be something else. All of us do, we just never realized."

She shook her head. "It's not right. This isn't right. You're trying to brainwash me."

"I am not," Blue argued.

"Well, you're _wrong_ either way. The Diamond Authority exists for a reason, and there's no place for gems like you in it."

"Okay."

" _Okay?_ " Jasper repeated disbelievingly.

"Okay," Blue said with a shrug. "In case you hadn't noticed, I don't really _want_ to have a place in the Diamond Authority. And it's not my problem if that's what you think regardless."

"Oh, come on, everyone else practically jumps down my throat when I even dare to _imply_ something like that in their presence."

"And clearly that's not accomplishing anything. Look," she said, eyes steely, "I don't like what you're saying. But I have met hundreds of gems just like you and I don't have the time, energy, or power to set you all straight. A lot of times, being a Pearl means you just have to take what you get and deal with it. So okay. I'm going now." She turned, taking a few steps away before glancing over her shoulder at Jasper again. "Oh, and thank you."

"For what?" Jasper asked warily.

Blue grinned. "You called me a gem, didn't you?"

* * *

Blue felt more than a little exhausted as she walked back, but she didn't feel _bad_ , just relieved to be done with the conversation and a tiny bit proud of herself for not letting Homeworld ideas get to her. And actually, it had been a little refreshing to have a distraction from her thoughts.

She found Yellow waiting for her just outside the temple.

"Do I need to go stab her?"

"Excuse me?"

"Jasper," Yellow clarified. "Was she bothering you?"

"No more than I anticipated," Blue said, laughing a little.

"So she was."

"Yes, but—Yellow, it's fine." She caught her by the arm before she could start making her way down the beach. "I appreciate you trying to defend my honor, but you don't need to."

"If she talks to you the same way she talks to me, then I think—"

"Yellow," Blue interrupted, "I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you do have a tendency to antagonize people you don't like. Not that it _excuses_ Jasper's behavior in any way, but gems do tend to be a little more tolerable if you don't provoke them."

Yellow huffed and crossed her arms. "I'm aware of that, thank you, but you can't tell me she was _happy_ to be talking to a Pearl."

"Well, no," Blue admitted. "But she doesn't have a lot of choices at the moment, and I think she knows that. She didn't say anything too terrible, I promise."

"Alright," she agreed reluctantly. "What _did_ she say then?"

"Mostly she just has a lot of questions." Blue shrugged. "I think it's probably a good thing that she's curious?"

"I suppose." Yellow frowned. "You don't think she's up to something?"

"No." She hesitated. "Well, I think she would be up to something if she had the option, but she's stuck here with the Crystal Gems watching her every move, so she's probably just trying to get a better handle on her situation."

"Alright then," she relented.

"What are you doing here, by the way?" Blue asked. "I thought you left with Pearl."

"I did, but I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh?"

"Yes."

She gave Yellow a curious look. "About what?"

She hesitated. "You seem like you're starting to overtrain again."

"Ah," she said quietly, surprised. "I hadn't really noticed."

"Well, it hasn't gotten as bad as last time yet," Yellow said. "But you said you wanted me to tell you if you started doing that sort of thing, so…" She shrugged awkwardly. "I'm not particularly good at reading people, so I don't know if this is about the other Pearls or fusion or something else entirely, but I figured it was best to bring it up now anyway."

"It's a bit of everything, I guess," Blue murmured. "I'm not sure, I'm just stressed."

"Okay."

"Mostly the fusion thing," she admitted. "I've been thinking too much, that's all."

"Well, stop it."

Blue laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing, you just have an interesting way of comforting people."

"I hadn't _gotten_ to the comforting part yet," Yellow said defensively.

"Oh, alright. Please, go right ahead," Blue said with a smile.

"No."

"No?"

"You have to explain what you've been thinking about first."

"Ah, yes, we have to have an order to these things," Blue said wisely.

" _Blue._ "

The other Pearl sighed, leaning heavily against the railing and staring out at the beach. "Sorry. I honestly _hadn't_ realized I was overdoing it again. I was trying to distract myself."

Yellow nodded, hesitantly copying Blue's posture, though her back remained ramrod straight.

"It was always me asking," Blue murmured. "And I can't help but think it could just have easily been _you_ that was hurt because I'm…different. I would feel terrible if it had been."

"It wasn't."

"I know."

"And asking about what?" Yellow queried. "Fusion?"

Blue nodded. "I mean, it was my idea. And then I suggested it the day we fought Malachite too, so…" She clasped her hands together anxiously. "It feels like it's my fault. I know you don't mind being Green, because it's always really great, but…"

"Yes, obviously I fuse with you because I _don't mind_ ," she said sarcastically. "Stars, Blue, I'm a lot of things, but I'm not _apathetic._ "

Her face tinged a dark blue. "Like I said, I was thinking too much."

"And you somehow arrived at the conclusion that I'm fusing with you out of obligation or something?"

"I don't know," she said quietly. "You aren't, are you?"

"Definitely not." She tapped a finger on Blue's arm. "I not only _don't mind_ fusing with you, I enjoy it. So stop worrying about problems that don't exist."

"Okay," Blue replied with a faint smile.

"And until I see solid evidence of it being directly harmful to _either_ of us, I have no problem continuing to do so. I told you that already."

"I know." She leaned closer to Yellow, pressing their shoulders together. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"And for coming to talk to me." Blue slipped her arm around Yellow's, linking them. "Thank you. You're actually not so bad at the comforting."

"Good, but I wasn't quite finished yet." Yellow pulled a small package from her gem. "Here."

"You got me a present?" she asked, surprised.

"I got you a prize from Pearl's pouch thing, and then Steven and Peridot suggested I wrap it up because apparently that's what you do on Earth."

"I _knew_ you saved those Pearl Points," Blue laughed, eyes softening as she took the gift.

Yellow smirked. "Figured I might as well use them for something. Anyway, it's yours."

"You're sure?" she asked.

"Yeah."

Blue smiled and carefully opened up the package, wrapping paper unfolded neatly and placed aside. "Oh! I love these!" She lifted the small pack of multicolored hair clips out. "And they're _stars_ ," she said delightedly.

Yellow nodded, looking pleased. "Since they're more decorative than functional now," she pointed out.

"They're perfect," Blue declared. She gave Yellow a quick hug, then looked at her for a moment before hugging her again and holding on tight. "Thank you."

"It's not a big deal."

"You _gave_ me something! You earned it and then you gave it to me and—and I don't know, I'm happy that we can even do that sort of thing. It's so new and rebellious and I love it."

"I figured," Yellow replied, a note of fondness in her voice as Blue let go.

"Will you wear one too?" she asked, already unclipping a couple from the cardboard backing.

"They're meant to be yours."

"Yes, they're mine and I'm sharing. Please?"

"Alright," she agreed reluctantly.

Blue grinned and reached up to slip it into Yellow's hair, just beneath one of the clips Steven had given her. "Looks good," she said brightly, hand lingering only a second before she picked out one to put in her own hair. "Honestly, it's very refreshing to see and wear things that aren't blue."

"I assumed you still liked it, seeing as you reformed in all blue again."

She laughed a little. "I don't _dislike_ it. But I didn't want to make too many changes all at once; that seemed too daunting. And I wanted to get back." Blue slipped the rest of the clips into her gem. "Thank you again for looking after me too. I promise I'll do the same when you get poofed."

" _When?_ " Yellow repeated indignantly. "You make it sound like it'll happen tomorrow."

"Well, whenever it _does_ happen, I'll take care of you." She smiled, giving the other Pearl a playful nudge. "Hundreds of years from now, I'm sure."

Yellow stared at her for a few long moments and then clicked her tongue, turning to hide the blush on her cheeks. "Thanks," she muttered. "Come on, we should go inside. Steven wanted to see how you look with those."

Blue smiled and let Yellow lead her back into the temple, grateful for the slightly warm fingers that took her hand and the care with which they slipped to fit between her own.


	19. Chapter 19

**(if you head over to Tumblr, you can see clawrenceon's awesome art for this chapter!)**

* * *

"Blue, could you stop playing with that?"

She glanced up from the little iPod, finger already pressing to skip to the next song. "I want to see what's on here."

"I don't mind _that_ , but could we at least listen to more than ten seconds of each song?"

"I haven't even made it through half of your music yet."

"I won't make it through half the _day_ if you don't quit it." Yellow leaned over and plucked it out of Blue's hand. "You're a menace when you're bored."

"I'm not bored." Blue stole the player back and picked out a playlist before handing it over to Yellow once again. "I like watching you work. I was just curious what was on there. You keep playing the same, I don't know, ten songs over and over again."

"Eleven. And you're _supposed_ to listen to them like that. They're made together."

"I see," she said with a smirk.

"It's true!"

"I believe you," Blue laughed. "I just think it's cute."

Yellow glared at her and pointedly turned the volume up a notch.

"If I made songs about space, would you listen to those on repeat too?"

"If they're good."

"I'll have to give it a shot then," Blue teased.

"I look forward to it," Yellow replied dryly. "Now did you want to help me with this or not?"

"I thought I was supposed to be taking a break."

"You are, but clearly you need _something_ to do, and I don't think passing me tools counts as overworking."

"Okay, okay. What do you need?"

"Wrench. The small one."

"Yes, my Pearl." Blue handed it over lazily.

"Don't say that."

" _Actually_ don't say it or _I'm-pretending-you're-annoying-me_ don't say it?"

"…I'm not sure."

"Sorry, I'll stop." Blue gazed at her for a moment. "So—"

"Hey," Lapis interrupted, appearing in the entrance of the barn.

"Hi," Blue said warily.

"Do you know where Peridot went?"

"I think she's back at the temple," Yellow answered.

"Oh."

"Did you need something?"

Lapis blinked in surprise. "I was going to ask her for the next season of _Camp Pining Hearts_ , that's all."

"It's up there," Yellow said, pointing at the ladder leading up to Peridot's usual TV viewing center. "She doesn't have the season two DVDs yet because she can't find the limited edition, and the tapes are missing a couple episodes in the middle. They're all labeled though, so you'll know when to stop. It's somewhere around the kayaking part, whatever that is."

"Ah." She gave her an odd look. "Okay. Thanks."

Yellow watched her fly up to the little loft area and let out a quiet groan. "Why do I _know_ that?"

"Because you've got great attention to detail?" Blue volunteered.

"It's _torture._ And now they _both_ like it."

She laughed, patting Yellow lightly on the knee as she glanced up to where Lapis was.

Yellow resumed her work, turning the music down a little while still trying to tune out the familiar theme song that was playing above their heads—at a more reasonable volume than Peridot played it at, at least. Blue, beside her, was oddly still and silent, prompting her to ask a quick "Are you alright?" after a few moments.

"Me? Yeah."

"You got kind of quiet."

"Lapis Lazulis make me nervous," Blue admitted in a low voice, shrugging.

Yellow looked between the loft and Blue. "More nervous than a Quartz soldier?"

"Jasper's contained. Lapis is free to do whatever she wants."

"Which isn't much of anything."

"No, but…" Blue glanced up. "With a Quartz, you know what you're getting. With a gem like Lapis, on a planet like this one…"

"There's a lot of unknowns," Yellow finished, nodding.

"I'm not saying I _want_ her to be locked up. I don't wish that on anyone, and from what the others have said, she's been through far too much of that already. But…" She lowered her voice even more. "To be honest, I always figured the Diamonds made them terraformers because they couldn't afford to have them weaponizing their abilities on a regular basis." She hesitated. "Not that I think _this_ Lapis is going to do anything—she likes Steven too much for that—but I'd rather keep my distance while she's…recovering."

"That makes sense."

"Also it's hard to know how to act around someone from Blue Diamond's court."

"Ah." She could definitely understand that aspect of it too, considering her history with Peridot and Jasper.

"Anyway," Blue said at a normal volume, "I'm okay, thanks."

"Okay."

"Actually," she added thoughtfully, "speaking of Homeworld, what do you think the others are up to?"

"The others? You mean the other Pearls?" Yellow shrugged. "How should I know?"

"Do you think we should call them again?" Blue asked.

"What for?"

"I don't know, I just want to make sure they're doing okay."

"There's not a whole lot we can do right now if they aren't," Yellow pointed out, not unkindly.

"Well, yes, but…don't you feel a little responsible for them too?"

Yellow shrugged uncomfortably. "A little," she replied.

"They're still new to everything," Blue said quietly. "I'd like to check in so they know they're not all by themselves."

"Alright, alright," Yellow relented. "We might as well introduce them to the others anyway. If we show up with this ragtag group out of nowhere, we'll just end up scaring them."

"Fair point," she laughed. "Introductions then. And it can't hurt to see if they have any more news."

"I'll go grab Pearl and make sure everything's working," she agreed.

"Thanks."

* * *

Their makeshift communications system seemed to still be in working order—and had been improved with a few modifications—and the Crystal Gems were happy to get a chance to meet more Pearls in the rebellion.

Blue figured it was best to start off with just her, Yellow, and Pearl—so they wouldn't startle anyone. Well, Pearl was bound to cause a bit of a fuss regardless, but she was a Pearl and that automatically put them on more familiar ground than if they showed up with…any of the others.

Yellow took a few seconds to connect to the same signal they'd used previously, and within a minute, the screen flickered to life.

Aura answered this time, smiling as she glanced up briefly, still adjusting whatever she was using on her end to connect. The image sharpened minutely, though it was still not the usual quality of Homeworld communication. "Rebellion headquarters, how can I help you?" she said brightly, looking pleased to hear from them.

"Everything's secure?" Yellow checked.

"Connection is stable and secure," Aura confirmed. "Hello!"

"Hi," Blue greeted her. "We just wanted to check in on…wait, I thought you were calling yourselves an alliance last time."

"Oh," she said, looking mildly surprised as she double-checked her side of things distractedly. "Thank you. And yeah, we haven't really settled on a name yet, sorry."

"That's alright," Blue laughed. "As long as you're doing okay over there."

"We are, I think." She smiled, finally looking up properly from the controls and immediately noticing Pearl. "Oh!" she gasped.

"Hello," Pearl said with a smile.

"Oh my—It's really you. It's—It's an honor." Aura shot to her feet, saluted, then bowed, and then did both at once. "Um, what can we do for you?"

"Oh, no, you don't need to do anything!" Pearl said quickly, waving her hands. "I only thought I should introduce myself properly."

"Okay," she replied faintly, sitting down again. "Nice to meet you. I'm Aureate. Aura."

"Nice to meet you, Aura. I'm Pearl."

Aura nodded, tucking her hair back into place. "It's an honor, Pearl."

"When I chose to be called that," Pearl laughed self-consciously, "I didn't really anticipate it being a problem. I suppose by your naming scheme, I should be called White or something?"

"No, no, it's fine!" Aura said quickly. "We've already got a White actually. White Diamond's Pearl, like you used to be."

"Wait, really?" Yellow asked. "One of White Diamond's Pearls joined the rebellion?"

"The day she was made, pretty much," she laughed. "I'd introduce you, but she only stopped by for a few minutes today."

"Huh," Yellow muttered. It didn't quite mesh with the image of the skittish Pearls she'd met during her time in court, but she supposed it wasn't unreasonable—especially with Pearl's own history.

"Actually," Blue interjected, "we were wondering if you might like to meet everyone? The rest of the Crystal Gems, I mean. They're going to be helping us, so I thought it might be a good idea to get acquainted now."

"Oh, I'd love to!" Aura said immediately. "But, um, you should know I'm not in charge or anything. That's Crimson, sort of, and she's not here at the moment either. I just run communications and coordinate things."

"That's alright," Pearl said quickly. "Whoever's there now is more than welcome to join us; we weren't trying to do anything particularly formal."

She nodded, relieved. "It's just the three of us right now, and I know they'd really, really love to meet you. And everyone else too. Give me just a minute, please?"

"Yes, no problem."

"Thanks." Aura stood up, going a little way off-screen before calling, "Silver! Chroma! Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, hold on!" someone called back.

"Okay!" She sat down again gracefully, tugging lightly at the tops of her gloves. "They'll be here in a moment. Most everyone's training right now, so we're stretched a bit thin, sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Blue replied. "Honestly, it's amazing what you've—"

There was a loud crash on the other end of the call, startling all of them.

"Are you alright?" Aura called anxiously, leaning off to one side.

"Fine! We're fine!" A second later, Chroma walked into view, looking rather flustered as she tried to brush away the large smears of a bright yellow glitter-like substance that were all over her, a stark contrast against her dark skin. "We were going through all that junk Caddy brought in earlier and I have no idea what this _was_ but now it's everywhere and I'm not speaking to her for a week. What did you need us for?"

"Well…" Aura pointed to the screen.

Her eyes locked onto the other three Pearls watching them and she froze. "Oh." She scrubbed a hand over the off-center gem in her forehead, which only succeeded in spreading the glitter around. "Hi."

"Hello," Blue said with a smile, giving her a small wave. "Nice to see you again."

"Likewise," Chroma said stiltedly, embarrassed. "Excuse me."

"No, here, I'll help," Aura said quickly, catching her by the arm before she could make an exit and guiding her into a chair. "I'll have to congratulate Caddy on her timing," she added, barely restraining her laughter.

"Don't you dare," she replied, reluctantly letting the other Pearl start brushing off her shoulders and hair. "Thanks," she added before glancing back up at the screen. "I'm—I apologize for the mess."

"It's quite alright," Pearl reassured her, hiding a smile. "Rebellions aren't usually neat and tidy affairs."

"Well, yes…" She looked a little relieved, though she continued to try and clean up a bit.

"Where's Silver?" Aura asked.

"Right behind me. She was just—oh, there you are." She looked up as another Pearl joined them, slipping into the seat beside Chroma.

"Oh, she got _both_ of you," Aura laughed.

The newcomer nodded, flashing a big smile and lifting one hand in greeting before turning to the screen excitedly. She had nearly the same amount of glitter on her as Chroma did, yellow dusting her gray skin and the lighter silver of her short hair. It blended a little better with her clothes, partially disguised in the gold that covered the top portion of her leotard before becoming blatant again in the dark gray below it. She settled comfortably into place beside the other two, her arm resting on Chroma's shoulder. Light glinted briefly off the gem on the back of her left hand as she gave the others a wave as well.

"This is Silver," Aura said, pausing in her ministrations to sit down again. "Silver, this is Blue and Yellow and Pearl."

"Nice to meet you," Blue said, the other two echoing the sentiment almost simultaneously.

A projection flashed up from Silver's gem, and it took Blue a moment to realize it was words. She had to squint to make them out. " _Nice to meet you too._ "

"You might want to get a little closer to the camera, Sil," Chroma said, tapping her wrist. "This tech's ancient."

Silver nodded, placing her hand closer so that her projections could be picked up more clearly. " _Sorry. Nice to meet you too._ "

"That's alright," Blue said. "I'm sorry, I guess we haven't met before, are you new?"

" _No, I've got about a century on me. My owner didn't like letting me mingle with other Pearls though. Special order and all._ " She tapped a finger on her throat in explanation. " _I know all about you though. Aura's a big fan._ "

"I never said that!" Aura protested, looking mortified.

"You didn't have to," Chroma told her with a smirk.

Silver grinned appreciatively and reached around to give Aura's shoulder a light squeeze to apologize for embarrassing her. " _Anyway, it's a pleasure. I only ever saw your projections secondhand, but I'm honored to get to meet you._ "

"Thanks," she laughed self-consciously.

" _And equally honored to meet the Renegade_ ," she added with a slight bow.

"Big fan," Aura mouthed, pointing to Silver.

Pearl's cheeks colored slightly and she stifled a laugh.

" _I can see you over there_ ," Silver said, unable to hide her own embarrassed grin. " _By the way, it's an honor to meet you too, Yellow. Sorry, not trying to play favorites._ "

"That's quite alright, I think I prefer my anonymity," Yellow replied.

Aura laughed. "Oh, no, you're definitely not anonymous."

"What?"

" _You're half of the greatest escape act in history_ ," Silver pointed out. " _You're getting plenty of recognition too._ "

"Good," Blue said happily, slipping a hand discreetly over Yellow's. "You deserve it."

"Thanks," Yellow muttered. "Now if we're all finished with the flattery, maybe we could move on?"

"Alright, alright," she laughed. "I'll go get the others."

" _Others?_ " Silver asked curiously as Blue stood up. " _You have more Pearls there?_ "

"No, no, not Pearls," Pearl answered hastily. "The Crystal Gems are a fairly diverse group, despite our small numbers."

" _You're not kidding_ ," Silver said, eyes wide as Blue ushered the other four into the room.

"Hey there," Amethyst said with a grin, sliding in next to Pearl and waving at the three on screen.

Aura flinched minutely, and Chroma and Silver both seemed to move a little closer to her. "H-Hi," she said quickly, covering her unease. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Ditto," she replied. "C'mon, Shorty Squad, squeeze in," she called, pulling Steven and then Peridot farther into the camera frame, while Garnet slipped in behind them.

"Hello," Peridot said awkwardly.

"It's really great to meet you guys," Steven added excitedly.

"Yeah, couldn't wait," Amethyst agreed. "Always cool to meet more rebels!"

"Oh, that's…I mean, thank you…" Aura looked a little lost. "We all do what we can."

"You've done great," Garnet said.

"Thanks," Chroma murmured uncertainly.

"I know it's weird," Blue said kindly, "but we really are equals here. And friends. You can trust them." She smiled, gesturing to each of them in turn. "This is Garnet, Peridot, Amethyst, and Steven."

" _Hi_ ," Silver said. " _I'm Silver, and this is Chroma and Aura._ " She pointed to each of them in turn.

"Hi," Steven replied, glancing sideways to Peridot. "Um…that was names, right?" he whispered.

"Correct," she said, quietly repeating them back for him.

"Thanks."

" _Sorry_ ," Silver said quickly, noticing his confusion. " _You're not a gem?_ "

"He is," Pearl said. "He's just never really needed to learn the language."

She tilted her head inquisitively. " _Learn?_ "

"I'm half human and half gem," Steven volunteered, lifting up the hem of his shirt just enough for her to see the quartz on his stomach.

Silver and the other two exchanged a puzzled look. She projected a gem that looked like Steven's and then an image of Rose, followed by a question mark.

"Mm-hm, my gem is Rose Quartz. She's my mom. Um, she made me, I mean." He paused. "I have her gem and her powers," he added, trying to clarify, "but not her memories."

She nodded, clearly not entirely following but satisfied with the small explanation.

"If you don't mind me asking, did you pick your names too then?" Aura asked curiously. "I haven't heard of a Steven _or_ a Garnet before."

"In a way," Garnet answered. "Steven is a human name. And I'm a fusion." She held up both hands so they could see her gems.

"Oh. _Oh!_ From the projections!"

"Geez, I'm starting to feel left out," Amethyst said, turning to Blue. "How come I don't get to be the hero of any projection stories?"

"Sorry," she laughed.

"It's okay, Amethyst," Peridot declared. "We'll come up with something just as impressive on our own, and then they'll have to tell stories about us!"

"Do I get to help too?" Steven asked.

"Hmm. Yes, I think you would be a valuable inclusion. I know! We could start by—"

"Don't get carried away right now," Pearl interjected. "We have guests."

"No, it's alright," Aura said quickly. "Really. You don't have to worry about us."

"No, hey, we wanna hear about you guys," Amethyst said. "You look cool. And really sparkly. Is that a rebellion thing?"

" _No, that's just for fun_ ," Silver said.

"One of the other Pearls has an ongoing, um, competition," Aura explained. "With Chroma."

" _She's winning_ ," Silver added cheerfully.

"She's only winning because I can't retaliate properly when she has to run back to court all the time," Chroma muttered. "I can't very well dump this kind of mess on _her._ "

Aura smiled, giving Chroma a small nudge with her shoulder. "I'm sure the thought is appreciated."

"Ooh, prank war, huh?" Amethyst asked. "Can I join?"

Chroma blinked, looking rather surprised that she was being spoken to. "Um, sure?" she answered belatedly.

"Yeah?" Amethyst seemed to read at least some of the uneasiness in her expression and flashed her a warm smile. "By the way, I'm sure it's driving P nuts, but you're really rocking the asymmetrical thing."

"Amethyst!" Pearl exclaimed, clapping a hand over the other gem's mouth. "I'm sorry, she doesn't mean to be rude."

"That was a compliment!" Amethyst mumbled indignantly from behind Pearl's fingers.

Chroma, who had reached automatically to cover the gem on her forehead, slowly lowered her hand.

"She's never been to Homeworld," Pearl said quickly. "She doesn't mean anything by it."

"She doesn't—oh my stars, you were serious." To her surprise, Chroma started laughing. "Thanks, I think? None of you make any sense."

"They really don't," Aura agreed with a relieved sort of smile. "It's nice."

Silver nodded, relaxing. " _Really refreshing, actually._ "

"Sorry," Chroma said, quieting herself quickly, "this isn't what I was expecting at all."

"In a good way?" Steven asked.

"Definitely," Aura said. "We haven't really had a chance to speak to other types of gems since we ran away."

" _And you're the newest between the three of us_ ," Silver pointed out. " _We've been here a few years._ "

"Years?" Peridot asked. "I thought you had just started this whole rebellion."

"I mean, officially," Chroma replied with a shrug. "But not all of us are _new_ to the whole running away business."

"Ah."

"Anyway, thank you," Aura said. "I'm sorry if we're not quite used to this, but it really is nice to meet all of you."

"Nah, it's cool," Amethyst said. "Trust me, between Peri and our new renegade duo, we're pretty used to the whole Homeworld culture shock thing."

"Yes, it's certainly nothing to be sorry about," Pearl agreed.

"Thanks."

"Have you been doing alright?" Blue asked. "Everyone there, I mean. If there's anything you need…"

"What _don't_ we need?" Chroma said under her breath.

"We're doing alright, I think," Aura laughed.

" _We're just low on supplies_ ," Silver explained. " _These two spent ages trying to get this thing to work._ " She gestured vaguely at the screen to indicate their communications system.

"I nearly thought we wouldn't," Aura admitted.

" _Oh, I never doubted you_ would. _Whenever Chroma shouts at something that much, it has to work._ "

"Good point," she said, grinning as Chroma crossed her arms.

"So you're fairly secluded where you are?" Peridot asked, raising her eyebrows. "Since you don't seem particularly concerned about being overheard."

"Yeah," Chroma replied. "And the walls are soundproofed, of course."

"Private control room then?"

" _And living quarters_ ," Silver added.

"How did you manage _that?_ "

" _It's a long story. This is where I used to serve._ "

"Huh. Well, it certainly seems like an adequate base of operations," Peridot said, analyzing what she could see of the room behind them.

" _Thanks._ "

"I know there's not much we can offer at the moment," Blue said, "but if there's ever anything you need us to do, just say the word."

"Supplies excluded," Yellow added, "seeing as we don't exactly have a whole lot here either."

"No, it's alright," Aura said. "I think we'll be fine. A lot of what we do now is…well, acquiring things and gathering information. Trying to help everyone. Preparing little by little."

"And you said you train?" Yellow asked. "How?"

"Oh, um…" She glanced over to Silver.

" _Projections from gems that used to be owned by soldiers. And a whole lot of making things up as we go along. We're not that good yet._ "

"She's being modest," Chroma said. "Silver's one of our best."

Faint color rose to her cheeks. " _I've just had more time to practice than the others. But thanks._ "

"We'd be happy to share what we've learned when we get there too," Blue offered.

" _That'd be great._ "

"Yeah, our options are pretty limited all around at the moment," Aura agreed with a nod. "The Diamonds are on edge, so we're being really careful."

"About the Diamonds," Blue began hesitantly. "Um, do they have new Pearls now?"

"Yes, all three."

Blue felt a small shock of guilt at the answer, because she knew they must have been replaced but hadn't given much thought to it until they'd started talking just now. She'd always hoped, in a useless sort of way, that she might be the last of Blue Diamond's Pearls. Nobody else should have to take on that position. "Are they…okay?"

"Oh, yes, they're okay! Well…you know. Managing. They're great, they're all part of the rebellion too."

Blue nodded, forcing a tiny smile onto her lips.

"We can tell them hello for you if you like," Aura offered sympathetically.

"Yeah," Yellow answered when Blue didn't respond right away. "Thanks."

"Well, it seems like you've certainly got the recruiting part down," Pearl commented lightly.

" _That's thanks to Crimson mostly_ ," Silver said. " _She's good at that sort of thing, and she's been sneaking in and out of places since forever ago._ "

"If you decide to call again, then we'd be happy to introduce you to some more Pearls," Aura said carefully. "It's just that most everyone is either busy or stuck in court at the moment."

"We'd be happy to call again," Blue reassured her. "I suppose we should stop here?"

"That's probably safest," Chroma said apologetically. "And we'll call you if we learn any more useful information."

"It was really, really nice to meet all of you," Aura added.

"Same here," Pearl said warmly. "I hope we can all speak again soon."

Silver nodded, smiling.

"We honor your service," Blue added quickly before they could switch the connection off, belatedly bringing her fist to her gem. She nudged Yellow lightly and she followed suit, Pearl doing the same on her other side.

"O-Oh!" Aura looked incredibly happy that she'd remembered. "Thank you. We honor your bravery." She returned the salute smoothly, Chroma and Silver doing the same.

" _Thanks for calling_ ," Silver said, cheeks tinged a deep gray. " _It means a lot._ "

"You're welcome. Be safe." The others echoed a chorus of goodbyes.

" _You too._ " She gave a small wave. " _Bye._ "

* * *

Everyone else seemed fairly quick to find something to do after the call had ended, but Garnet pulled Yellow and Blue aside and told them to take some time for themselves, so they stayed in the temple and sat quietly for a while.

Blue seemed particularly lost in thought, and Yellow couldn't tell if she was meant to give her space or start a conversation. Eventually she went with the latter, because she was getting tired of glancing between Blue and the small tablet screen in front of her.

"They're not so bad," she commented, setting it down to look properly at Blue, who was playing absent-mindedly with one of her spare hair clips. "The other Pearls."

Blue looked up. "You're surprised?"

"No." She'd never entirely shaken the disconnect she'd felt between herself and everyone else back on Homeworld though.

"You didn't say much."

"I'm not used to talking to Pearls."

Blue chuckled. "Yellow, I hate to break this to you, but—"

"You know what I mean!" Yellow huffed. "You're _different._ I didn't talk to anyone else."

"Fair enough," she replied, though a few bits of quiet laughter still lingered on her lips. "I'm glad you talked to me, you know," she added more seriously. "I mean, I was used to sharing the projections, but…you were different for me too."

"I was?"

"Of course." She leaned lightly into Yellow's shoulder. "Sorry I'm off in my own head over here."

"You're allowed."

"I just realized I haven't really thought about Blue Diamond for days," she murmured. "It's strange."

"That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"But somebody else has to, and…" Blue shook her head. "I don't know. It doesn't seem fair."

"It's never fair."

"I suppose not." She smiled faintly. "There's a part of me that wishes we could just gather everyone up and warp them here and be safe. And I _know_ that's not realistic," she added before Yellow could even open her mouth. "It wouldn't really solve anything. It would just be nice, if things were that easy."

"I guess it would be," Yellow agreed quietly. "Look, she's probably fine. If she's anything like you, she's been rebellion material from day one. She'll know how to keep her head down and keep her Diamond happy in the meantime."

"Okay." She slipped an arm around Yellow's shoulders. "And thanks. I'm sure Yellow Diamond's new Pearl is too."

Yellow stiffened under her touch. "Sure."

"What?"

"Nothing." _She'll be exactly like me, won't she?_ Yellow shook her head, putting it out of her mind. "Are we going to relax or not?"

Blue seemed like she wanted to press her a bit more for an explanation, but she nodded, slipping away to pick up a nearby book before flopping down on her back, head resting on Yellow's legs. "Does this work?"

Yellow touched the colorful hair clips nestled in Blue's mussed hair and smiled. "Yeah, that's fine."

* * *

"Hey, guys?"

"Yes?" Blue set down the book she was reading and blinked up towards Steven's room, squinting. She was still lying comfortably across the sofa with her head supported by Yellow's thigh, the other Pearl holding a tablet awkwardly above her and scowling. Steven, meanwhile, had just poked his head over from the second floor.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked.

Yellow tilted her head back to look at him. "Sure. Do you want us to come up there?"

"No, it's okay, you look cozy! I'll come down." Steven hurried down the stairs and sat down on the sofa near Blue's feet. "Whatcha reading?"

"Pearl helped me find a brief overview of Earth's history," Blue replied, carefully tucking a bookmark in where she'd left off. "I thought it would be good to know more about it."

"Oh, cool." He peered over at Yellow's screen. "Is that a game?"

"No, technical diagrams."

"Amethyst made her try a game earlier though," Blue said conspiratorially. "It didn't go well."

Steven laughed, then settled into a little bit more comfortable position. "Okay. So, um…I was kind of hoping you could tell me more about Homeworld. If you're okay with that! I'd get it if it brings up bad memories or stuff."

"No, it's fine," Blue replied.

Yellow nodded, pressing the tablet's power button before setting it aside. "What about it?"

"Anything."

" _Anything?_ You do realize Homeworld has been around far longer than your planet, right? It wouldn't even begin to fit in a book."

"No, not like history," Steven clarified. "Like, what is it _like?_ "

Yellow frowned. "Could you be more specific?"

"Well, uh, there's the Diamonds, right? Why are they…in charge?"

"They've always been in charge," Blue said. "Or that's what they say."

"Oh." He paused. "And there's four of them?"

"Steven," Yellow said bluntly, "I think you're supposed to talk to Pearl about this."

"I've _tried_ talking to Pearl!" Steven argued. "And Garnet! Loads of times, and they never tell me anything. And then Pearl gets upset with _you_ for telling me things too."

"Well…" They shared a worried look.

"Please?" he asked. "I want to know what's going on. I want to be able to _help_ , but I barely know anything about Homeworld at all."

"I think you should ask them again," Blue offered carefully, sitting up. "It's…a very long story, and parts of it are going to involve Rose Quartz, and you should probably hear it from someone who was there with the rebellion."

Steven stared down at the floor, looking increasingly frustrated. "You don't want me to know either."

"That's not it."

"Nobody wants to tell me _anything!_ " he shot back. "All I get to hear is the good stuff about how the Crystal Gems saved the planet and—and that's _great_ but I know that's not all there is! I mean, before Peridot and you guys got here, we barely even talked about Homeworld! Why can't I know more? I'm fourteen, I can handle it!"

"Fourteen what?" Yellow asked, baffled and slightly wary of his sudden outburst.

"I—" Steven sighed. "Fourteen years old."

"Stars, you're newer than I thought."

He groaned, flopping back on the sofa. "I don't like all these secrets."

"I'm sorry," Blue offered sympathetically.

"I don't even know how to read my own _language._ I mean, one of my languages. I should be bilingual!"

"Oh, well, that's easily fixed," Yellow said breezily. "We could show you how to read it."

"Wait, really?" Steven asked, eyes wide. "You'd teach me some?"

"Sure."

Blue nodded. "I think we could. I mean, neither of us have any experience _teaching_ , but we'll try."

"That would be awesome!" He flung himself over to give both of them a hug.

"You'll still talk to Pearl though, right?" Blue asked carefully. "She really did want to explain things herself."

"Okay," Steven agreed. "I guess I can try again." He sighed. "At least teach me how to write my name first?"

"Sure." She pulled a notebook and a pen from her gem. "It's like this," she said, tilting it towards him so he could watch her write. "Steven. Or, well, it's pronounced a little differently, but that doesn't matter."

"Ohh. I like it, it's kinda fancy-looking."

"That's Blue's handwriting, not your name," Yellow muttered, rolling her eyes as she reached over to take the pen out of Blue's hand. "Standard penmanship looks more like this."

"Era 2 writing is so bland," Blue complained as Yellow copied out Steven's name. "It just looks like everything they use on the screens."

"That's the _point._ "

"Welllll," Steven said, drawing out the word, "I'm gonna sign my name like Blue writes it, but I'll learn both!"

"Fair enough." Yellow passed him the pen and watched as he began scrawling out the symbols slowly.

"How's this?" he asked when he'd finished, holding it up.

"Good," Blue said warmly. "Just make sure this part goes farther down." She pointed to the spot that needed to be fixed and watched him correct it. "That's right."

"Wow." He stared down at the paper for a moment. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

"How do you write your names?" Steven asked hopefully, offering her the pen again.

"Ours?"

He nodded.

"Oh." Blue wrote her name smoothly below Steven's. "This is mine. I've never actually written it before. Yellow?" She held out the pen.

Yellow took it and smiled faintly as she scribbled her name down under Blue's. "That's mine."

"Those are pretty too!" He traced his finger lightly over each of their names. "I'll learn them," he added determinedly.

"Thanks," Blue said, unable to keep a smile from spreading across her lips. "For asking." It made her feel strangely happy, just to be reminded she had a name, one that she could write down and see and say _that's me._ And someone besides her cared about it too.

And while she might not have consciously decided it to be her name at the start, it was important. It was one of the first choices she had made to say _I'm not just a Pearl_. And the Pearls in the rebellion had realized that too, on their own, and she loved that.

Blue traced out her name and Yellow's again, and smiled. Then she added _Pearl_ , followed by _Chroma_ , _Aureate_ , and _Silver_ , writing out the English beside them as well. Six names, and more that she had yet to learn.

And that felt so good after years of watching Pearls come and go, always having to remember them by sight since they weren't allowed any real identification. Things would be different now.


	20. Chapter 20

Steven waited until the next morning to say anything, returning to the house after spending a night out at the barn with Lapis and Peridot. Blue and Yellow had made themselves scarce, taking some time for themselves since they knew the Crystal Gems would probably want privacy.

"Guys?" he asked as he came inside.

Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl immediately turned their attention to Steven.

"I want to talk to you about something."

"We know," Garnet said softly, patting the seat beside her. "It's time we told you a few things."

"Really?"

Pearl nodded, slightly jittery fingers pushing a plate of cookies across the table. "Do have one before we start; Amethyst just made them."

"Oh, cool." Steven hopped up on the stool and reached for one. After his first bite, he gave Amethyst a thumbs up. "My compliments to the chef!"

"No prob." She took one herself and popped it in her mouth. "Comfort food's my specialty."

She meant _literal_ comfort food too, Steven realized as he munched on the cookie. All three of them looked incredibly solemn as they watched him.

Swallowing down the last bite, he leaned forward a little. "I want to know more about Homeworld and the rebellion and—and all the important stuff. I know you were probably just trying to protect me, but you can't leave me in the dark forever."

"We weren't trying to," Pearl reassured him quickly. "It's just—there are so many unpleasant parts of our history that we didn't want to burden you with."

"I know Homeworld's done some really terrible things—"

"This isn't just about Homeworld," Garnet interrupted gently. "It's about the Crystal Gems too. And about your mother."

"It's about Mom?"

"She _was_ a super awesome rebel leader," Amethyst said. "She had a bunch of stuff to deal with, you know?" She shrugged. "But I'm gonna let Garnet and P explain most of it 'cause I wasn't around yet. I'm just on cookie duty."

"Oh, okay."

After a few seconds, Pearl cleared her throat. "Alright. Well, I suppose we should begin with Homeworld as it was before the war. As you know, there has always been a fairly strict hierarchy based upon gem type. It affects everyone differently, of course, depending on their own place and whether they feel fulfilled in their given role." She took a deep breath. "Rose and I didn't. A lot of gems didn't. We certainly weren't the first rebellion Homeworld had to deal with."

"We were just the first to put up such a fight," Garnet continued easily as Pearl paused. "Several factors—including Pearl's own tenacity and Rose's healing powers—made us a very real threat to Homeworld at the time. We forced them to take us seriously. We forced them into a real war, one they hadn't thought would be necessary."

"And the longer we held out, the more gems came to join us," Pearl said earnestly. "All sorts of gems, all the time, and it was wonderful. Homeworld _didn't_ take us seriously at first, but it gave us time to learn and train and bring together our own little army to defend the planet."

"Uh, quick question," Amethyst interjected. "Why'd everybody care about Earth so much? I mean, I get why _Rose_ cared about it and why _we_ care about it, but I never really got why there used to be so many gems from all over that wanted to save it."

"Oh. Well…" Pearl faltered. "I suppose it _wasn't_ all about Earth for many of us. It was Rose's primary motivator, but for others…I think it was always more about the freedom Earth represented. They grew to love it with time, but it wasn't the reason they defected from Homeworld."

Amethyst nodded and Steven did the same, nearly synchronized.

"That said," Garnet added, "while we were growing in number, you have to understand that the Crystal Gems, back then, were still not as big a threat to the Diamonds as we needed to be. We weren't _losing_ the war, but we certainly weren't winning it either. We knew it was only a matter of time before we might be backed into a corner. There were new gems popping out to join the opposite side, in far greater number than our own."

"Oh," Steven said solemnly. "What—What did you do then?"

"We came up with our own plan." Garnet sighed and reached up to remove her visor. "Earth, as a colony planet, belonged to Pink Diamond, and we knew that if things got dire, we'd have to take direct action against her."

"The initial plan," Pearl said, eyes distant, "was to trap her. The handful of us that were closest to Rose came up with it. Some of our number even argued that it wasn't enough, that we needed to get rid of her entirely, but Rose…Rose never liked that. She attached so much meaning to life, to living, even if it was the lives of our enemies. We never shattered gems if we could help it."

"But things changed," Garnet murmured. "We lost a great number of friends as the war dragged on. We were holding on, but just barely. When she was confronted by Pink Diamond herself, Rose knew she had to take action. It was what she needed to do, so that we could finally have the freedom we'd been chasing."

"Wait," Steven said, mouth dry. "Are you saying that Mom…?"

"She shattered Pink Diamond, yes."

Pearl nodded, eyes bright with unshed tears.

"She—She wouldn't do that! She wouldn't," he insisted, clutching at the front of his shirt.

"She didn't _want_ to do it," Pearl said softly. "And it was always one of her biggest regrets, having to go to such lengths, but she loved this planet and—"

"How does that make it okay to kill somebody?"

The three of them watched him, upset.

"I-I don't understand."

"It's war, Steven." Garnet placed a careful hand on his head. "Things get very gray, and things get very tough. Rose did what she believed was best for the Earth at that moment in time—she freed it from Pink Diamond's power. And whatever anyone thinks about the rightness or wrongness of it…it happened."

Steven gulped, staring down at his lap. "Okay."

"If you have any questions, we'll do our best to answer them."

He nodded mutely.

Pearl, unable to restrain herself any longer, rushed over to Steven's side of the table and gathered him close.

"Wh-What happened after?" Steven asked after a moment, clinging onto her. "Did you win?"

"Things turned in our favor, yes," she murmured. "Homeworld was devastated. Diamonds don't—You can't understand how it is without experiencing it, but your Diamond is meant to be _everything_ to you. They're the most powerful gems in existence. Even to have injured one would be legendary. To destroy one sent shockwaves through every gem-inhabited planet in the universe. And for a while that was good, that everyone was scared of what we'd do next. They couldn't write us off as a joke." Pearl squeezed him tighter. "But that also meant we were too dangerous."

Garnet nodded. "That was the instigator for the destruction they unleashed later. The corruption."

"Oh."

"I'm not sure any of us considered it a victory at first," Pearl whispered. "Earth was safe, but we lost so many…" Tears welled up in her eyes.

 _No such thing as a good war, kiddo._

Steven understood that a little better now, even as he felt he understood less and less about his mother.

He didn't know what else to say, or to ask.

After a few long moments, Amethyst hopped down and came over to join in the hug, giving them both a firm squeeze. Garnet was there beside them in an instant too, gathering all three of them into her arms.

"I know we've avoided talking about the war," she said, hand resting protectively on Steven's head, "but it wasn't just because we wanted to keep this a secret. It's just difficult."

"Y-You guys always talked like Mom was perfect."

"Nah, that wasn't it," Amethyst said quietly. "We just talked about the things we liked about her. Cuz that's what we miss."

"She was never _just_ the leader of the rebellion to us," Garnet agreed. "It would be a great disservice to both of you to speak of her only as a figurehead and not a gem. A person."

"There's…there's nothing else this big, is there? No more secrets?"

"No secrets," Garnet answered gently. "But there is more we can tell you, about Rose and about Homeworld, if you want us to."

Steven nodded. "I don't really wanna talk anymore right now," he mumbled against Pearl's shirt.

"Then whenever you're ready." Garnet ruffled Steven's hair, then lifted her hand to Pearl's cheek to bring her glassy eyes back to the present.

Pearl drew in a ragged breath, still holding Steven like she was afraid to let go. "I'm sorry we've never understood how—how all this human parenting is supposed to go and when to do things and…"

"It's okay," Steven whispered. "Thanks for telling me everything."

* * *

The Crystal Gems—the original four—must have spoken at some point as promised, because the next time Blue saw Steven he seemed unusually solemn and wasn't talking much.

A part of her wished she could have at least listened in if not participated. She knew very little about Pink Diamond's shattering, when she thought about it. She'd been alive during that time, yes, but…

How much of what Homeworld told them was true? And how much was made up to honor their fallen leader while also refusing to dwell on her lest they be perceived as weak? Diamonds weren't supposed to fall to any gem. Certainly not a rogue Rose Quartz and her army, on a planet they had already considered to be theirs.

But that conversation was something private, something for the gems that really knew and loved Rose Quartz, and not for curious newcomers. So instead, Blue and Yellow found other ways to spend their time, talking and working and appreciating each other's company.

The week following was very quiet. Steven seemed much more subdued whenever they saw him, and he spent large portions of time away from the temple and barn, usually with his dad or with Connie. And sometimes Lapis, because she seemed to enjoy flying him around.

Blue thought Lapis seemed less and less of a threat these days, and more just…lost. She hadn't quite figured out her place here yet, and she could sympathize with that. Earth _was_ very different.

It was good different though, and despite current circumstances, Blue was enjoying the time she got alone with Yellow while Peridot and Lapis were off "being roommates" and the rest of the Crystal Gems were keeping to themselves.

Pearl had suggested during training that they practice fusing more—whenever they felt prepared—and Blue finally worked up the courage to say she was ready after a couple days.

Yellow gave her a surprisingly honest smile and extended her hand expectantly for a dance.

"Really?" Blue asked, giggling.

"Well, we don't really need to, but you seem to enjoy it for some odd reason, so…"

"Thank you."

The dancing relaxed her, or perhaps not even the dancing itself but the way Yellow's eyes were fixed on her and how steady her hand felt when she dipped her and all the small improvements Blue was so proud of her for making.

Green came into being with a contented sigh, hands coming up to touch both her gems, feeling each for imperfections before relaxing completely. "I'm okay," she murmured. Blue and Yellow's memories trickled into her mind slowly, and she tried to make sense of the events and discoveries after she'd unfused.

Blue had gotten hurt, really hurt. Guilt flashed through her, even though she couldn't have known that would happen when she'd charged headfirst into fighting Malachite.

She'd have to protect her two components—and herself—better in the future.

Or maybe not fight at all, if that was what it took, even though the thought made her feel awful. That was what they needed her for, wasn't it? If she couldn't, then…

Oh stars, everything was confusing now. Green felt more _herself_ this time—not that she hadn't been before, but it was like she was slowly piecing together her own identity in addition to Blue and Yellow as individuals.

 _We can keep fusing even if we don't fight._

Green wasn't sure which of them the thought came from, but it calmed her, and she smiled as she touched the small space between her gems.

She liked existing, confusing or not.

Right then, she knew sword practice wouldn't do her much good, so instead she lay back on the grass and squinted up into the bright sky as she just let her mind wander.

 _We'll be okay._

* * *

It was nearly dusk when Green opened her eyes to approaching footsteps.

"Steven, Greg!" she greeted them. "Hi."

"Hi," Steven said with a small smile. "Are you stargazing?"

"Maybe. Oh!" She sat up quickly. "Hello, Greg. We haven't really met, so I should introduce myself, right?"

"It's okay," he laughed, surprise still showing in his eyes. "I think I can guess whose fusion you are."

"Fair enough," she returned with a smirk. "My name's Green. For now. I might change it. Blue's making me all indecisive now that she's met Pearls with more _creative_ names."

"Then it's good to meet you, Green-for-now." Greg shook her offered hand. "Steven told me you were pretty cool when you guys went up against…" He glanced around, likely looking to make sure Lapis wasn't in earshot. "Malachite. So I wanted to say thanks for looking out for him."

"Oh, it's no trouble." Green's face warmed at the praise. "Would you, um, like to join us? Me, I mean?"

"What do you think, kiddo?" Greg asked, giving Steven a little nudge.

"Yeah. I think that sounds good." Steven hesitated. "Can I have a fusion hug?"

"I don't see why not," she agreed with a warm smile. "I promise not to squish you."

He laughed a little. "Hey, I'm pretty tough, you know!"

"I do know." Green let him clamber up onto her lap and then put her arms around him securely. "Are you doing alright?"

"Better."

They watched the stars in silence after that, Steven sitting between Green and Greg and cuddling up to each of them in turn. After some time had passed, both father and son fell asleep under the glimmering starlight and Green watched the two humans breathing steadily, if noisily, in and out.

Green let her own eyes slip shut as well, breathing Earth's air deep into her lungs and then exhaling slowly.

She'd do better too. She'd learn how to fight without putting Blue in danger. It would take practice, but she'd figure out how to keep them all safe.


	21. Chapter 21

The next day, Blue went by to check on Steven, calling out a "Hello?" as she came into the house.

"Up here," Steven replied from his room. He motioned for her to come and join him.

"Hi." Blue stopped a few stairs from the top, unsure whether she should enter or not. The floor was covered in scattered pieces of white paper, all with some kind of writing on them, though she wasn't close enough to see what it was.

"Hi, Blue." He set down a marker he'd been holding, leaving it in a messy pile of at least a dozen more on the floor.

"How are you?" she asked carefully. "Is there anything I can do?"

"I'm good." He still didn't quite seem himself, but at least he was smiling more today. "Tell Green thanks for keeping us company last night."

Blue smiled. "Will do."

"Actually, there is one thing you could help me with," Steven said.

"What is it?"

He beckoned her closer again and Blue obliged, stepping carefully around the mess and settling on her knees beside him. "I'm, um, making something for the Gems? And I need to know how to write 'Garnet' and 'Amethyst'. I was trying to guess, from what the other names look like, but I don't think I'm getting it right."

Blue glanced over the scribbles on the papers surrounding them, then picked one up. "Can I write on this?"

"Sure." Steven passed her a blue marker.

"Thanks. Okay, so you have Garnet _mostly_ right. It's just this part." She drew an arrow to the first letter, then wrote out the correct form beneath it. "Like that."

"Oh, cool," he said. "Did I get Amethyst almost right too?"

Blue squinted down at another sheet of paper. "Um, no, sorry. But don't worry about it; that one's tougher." She wrote _Amethyst_ out as well. "Do you need Peridot and Lapis too?"

"Yes, please," Steven said hopefully. "I'll make them something for the barn later."

"Okay." She flipped the paper over and wrote them down, putting a small _L_ and _P_ next to them so he would remember which was which.

"…And Jasper?"

Blue blinked, surprised, but she wrote _Jasper_ down as well.

"There's a couple other things I wanted to know how to write too," he added. "And I miiiight have another little favor to ask you after that."

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Blue asked, following Steven down to the beach. "I don't think she'll be happy to see you."

"I know, but I want to keep trying to get through to her. Besides, anyone would be grouchy sitting out here with nothing to do for ages."

"Quartzes do like their exercise," she agreed.

" _Please?_ I said I'd bring somebody along to keep an eye on her as backup."

"I'm hardly the strongest gem here though. I mean, I _might_ be able subdue her briefly if she gets loose, but…"

"It'll be fine, I promise! Just stand right about here and look intimidating."

Blue laughed, summoning her spear from her gem. "I'll do my best."

She watched as Steven made his way over to Jasper, not sure what to expect as he approached her.

Jasper lifted her head as he got closer, eyes flicking to Blue and then back to Steven, glaring at him. "What do _you_ want?"

"I brought something for you."

She didn't respond.

"Here." Steven reached through the destabilizing field and set the card carefully on the ground before removing his hands quickly and backing up. Jasper made no move towards him, just watched. "I made it for you."

"You really _aren't_ Rose Quartz, are you?"

He jumped. "Uh, n-no. I'm not."

"I always wondered how you got out of your cells on the ship. It's because you're not all gem, isn't it?"

Steven nodded.

"Huh." She eyed the piece of paper. "Why are you giving me something? What if I used it to escape?"

"Well, I checked with Yellow _and_ Peridot, and they both said it was okay and you couldn't."

Jasper grunted and shot him another glare, reaching over to pick up the card by one corner. "It's a picture?"

"Yep."

She looked down at it, eyes narrowed.

"It's you," Steven explained. "When you first got to Earth and you had that fancy cape and everything. I thought that was cool. I mean, you were really scary, but you were cool. I hadn't seen a gem like you before."

Jasper stared at him.

"Actually, I think you're still the biggest gem I've seen, other than Yellow Diamond, but I didn't actually _meet_ her. Are all Jaspers your size?"

"…A little smaller, but basically."

"Wow. So how big are the rooms on Homeworld?"

"What?"

"Well, gems are all different sizes, so how do they build stuff? Is it all just really huge?"

"Compared to you, yeah."

Steven stuck out his tongue.

She blinked, confused, and then refocused her attention down at the card instead, taking in the pink glitter that was sprinkled all around the drawing.

"Anyway, I, um, just found out about what happened to your Diamond," Steven began nervously. "And I guess it makes sense now why you don't like me or Mom. And I just wanted to say I'm sorry you lost her. I don't really get it, but it sounds like it would be the same as losing part of your family, and I know how bad that can be, so…"

"Stop talking about her." Jasper's voice was gruff, but she didn't snap at him, so he figured that was a good sign.

"Okay." He hesitated. "There's something on the inside too, if you open it up."

She opened up the folded paper, grimacing as some of the glitter stuck to her hands. "'Welcome back, Jasper'?" she read uncertainly.

"Mm-hm." Steven watched her anxiously. "You were made here just like Amethyst, right?"

"I'm nothing like your puny Amethyst."

"Hey!"

Jasper looked up, mildly startled by the authority in his voice.

"You don't get to be mean to Amethyst. Or Pearl or Yellow or Blue or Garnet or Peridot or Lapis. They're _my_ family."

"I don't know what that means."

Steven faltered. "It's like—like people that care about each other a whole lot." He thought for a moment. "There were other Quartzes that fought with you in the rebellion, right? From your Kindergarten?"

She nodded. "They were de—They didn't come out the way they were supposed to."

"Okay," he said, frowning. "But they were there for you, right? Like, they had your back?"

"I guess."

"That's kinda like family."

"It is?"

"Yeah, but…usually you get to share some good things too, not just fight together."

"Why would we do anything other than fight together? I mean, I know Amethysts are more… _group-oriented_ ," she said, clearly picking her words carefully, "but Jaspers aren't."

"Because there's so much more! Like…Like how I like drawing, or how Amethyst likes eating. Those aren't things Homeworld would think we should do, but it doesn't mean we can't enjoy them." He shrugged. "And sometimes family just hangs out together and does stuff they enjoy." Jasper didn't say anything, so he scuffed his shoes in the sand lightly, watching it spill over his toes. "So it's my job to have my family's back, just like it was your job to have the other Quartzes' backs. I'm not going to say anything mean about them, so you shouldn't say anything mean about mine, okay?"

"I don't care if you say something mean about them."

"Okayyy, maybe that was a bad comparison. Would you be mad if I said something mean about Pink Diamond?"

"Of course I would, she's my Diamond!"

"Then it's like that. You insulting my family is like me insulting your Diamond. Just…not for the same reasons."

"Oh." It was clear from her expression that she didn't understand how every single one of them could be like a Diamond to him, but she didn't question it.

"So can you please be a little nicer to them?"

"Fine." Jasper glanced back down at the card. "But I'm not going to let them walk all over me either."

Steven nodded.

"You mentioned Lapis. Where is she?"

"Um…" His expression grew guarded. "I'm not supposed to tell you."

"Why _not?_ Aren't you the leader?"

"No. But even if I was…Lapis doesn't really want to see you right now."

Jasper swallowed back her next question. "Alright." She stared down at the picture. "You know, I don't _want_ to be back on this terrible planet."

"I kinda guessed that, but I figured a welcome-back card was better than a thanks-for-being-our-prisoner card."

The bigger Quartz snorted. "You're very strange, Steven Quartz."

"Just Steven's okay."

"It is?"

"Well, you don't get called Jasper Quartz, do you?"

"Only when somebody's _really_ trying to suck up."

"Then you can think of it like that," he laughed. "It sounds all formal and weird. Plus it's actually Quartz _Universe_ , which is way too long to say every time."

"Universe?"

"It's my dad's name. On Earth, families pass down part of their name."

"Huh."

"You know, if you want to learn more about humans and everything, I could bring you some books or movies," Steven offered hopefully.

"Not interested."

"But…"

"Look, as soon as I can get off this worthless planet, I will. I don't want to learn about it or philosophize about freedom or rebellion or everything you think is wrong with Homeworld. I should never have come back here in the first place. Nothing _ever_ goes right here."

"Oh, okay." Steven bit his lip. "Do you want me to bring you anything else then?"

" _No._ " She paused. "And you can tell your little bodyguard to stand down. I'm not going to do anything to you."

"I'm not really supposed to come see you alone."

Jasper huffed. "Suit yourself."

"Can we come by again tomorrow?"

"Has it completely escaped your notice that I'm a prisoner? You could sit there all day if you wanted."

"Well, not _really._ Humans have to do stuff to, you know, keep our bodies running. Eating and sleeping and everything."

Jasper gave him an impatient look.

"Right, you didn't want to learn about Earth. Okay! I'll find something else to bring you tomorrow." Steven got up and waved. "See you then!"

Blue watched him hurry back over to her. "That seemed to go pretty well," she commented as they went back into the house.

"Yeah, I think it did!" Steven hugged her. "Thanks for all your help."

"No problem." It still felt nice to be acknowledged like that, instead of everything just being expected and consequently ignored. "I think Yellow and I are going to get some extra practice in this afternoon at the arena. Would you like to come?"

"No thanks," he said brightly. "I've got one more card to deliver."

"Okay." Blue patted him on the head lightly, heading over to the warp pad. "See you later."

"See you!"

Steven watched Blue disappear into the warp stream and then hurried across the pad to the temple door.

"Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl!" he called, knocking. "Are you here?"

It took only a few seconds for Garnet's door to open and, to his surprise, Pearl and Amethyst were already with her.

"What's up?" Amethyst asked. "Everything okay?"

He nodded. "I just wanted to give you guys something."

"Give us something?" Pearl repeated uncertainly.

"Yep." Steven held out the large card he'd been holding behind his back.

Garnet took it carefully from his fingers and smiled at the portrait of all four of them on the front. "Thanks."

Pearl leaned over to open it up and see what was written inside, a happy blush rising to her cheeks as she read the meticulously copied gem language within.

 _To Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl: Thank you for always taking care of me. I love you._

"Oh, Steven," she breathed. "This is lovely."

"I just wanted to say thanks for telling me about Mom and Pink Diamond. And, um, I want to keep learning about Homeworld because that means I get to learn more about you too, and that's important. Even if there's scary stuff as well."

A rare tear trickled from under Garnet's visor and she lifted him up into her arms. "Thank you, Steven. We love you too."

He hugged her tight, smiling as they all ended up in a group hug again—a much happier one this time, even if it was all a little teary.

"We get to put it on the fridge, right?" Amethyst asked as they broke apart. "That's what Vidalia does with all the weird stuff her kid gives her."

"It's not weird," Pearl said indignantly. "I admit the human custom itself is strange, but this is a wonderful gift!"

"I never said it wasn't!" Amethyst protested. "I mean, look how great his drawing's gotten. We look awesome!"

"And look at his _penmanship_ ," Pearl said proudly, lifting it out of Amethyst's hands to see it again.

Steven blushed under all the attention as Amethyst gave her a weird look. "Yeah, sure," she laughed, patting Pearl's back. "I think _you're_ the weird one."

"Shush." Pearl wrapped her arms around Steven again. "It's perfect."

"Good job," Garnet added warmly.

He pressed a hand to his gem through his shirt, feeling a gentle warmth inside it for the first time since he'd heard everything. "Thanks."


	22. Chapter 22

Lapis, Yellow decided, was a good gem to have around. Sure, it was hard not to have a few reservations like Blue did about her, but her powers came in handy.

She'd kept to herself at first, but Peridot was somehow getting through to her despite a few misunderstandings and now Lapis hung around the barn and would help them lift or move things that would have been a bit of a struggle otherwise—or sometimes just inconvenient.

"Can you pass me that hammer?"

Lapis flicked her wrist and sent it flying over, Yellow catching it easily.

"Thanks."

"Why are you going back?"

She blinked, startled, and turned to face the other gem. It was the first time Lapis had really shown much interest in what they were doing. "To Homeworld?"

"Yeah." Lapis criss-crossed her legs, still hovering lazily in the air. "You'll get shattered, won't you?"

"I'm not planning on going back to _Yellow Diamond_ ," she replied irritably. "That would just be idiotic."

"So…"

"So we've got an obligation to the other Pearls," Yellow said.

Lapis looked skeptical. "You don't seem the type to care about that sort of thing."

"Look, I'm sure I didn't leave the best impression the _one time_ you saw me on Homeworld," Yellow muttered. "But things are different now, and I want to help somebody besides myself for once. It wouldn't be right for me and Blue to just sit around here."

"But you _escaped._ Wasn't the whole point to stay away?"

"Not really," she answered with a shrug. "Besides, that was sheer luck. Nobody else is going to be able to escape like that, so we've got to figure out a real solution. Can't do that from here."

Lapis nodded slowly.

"What about you?" Yellow asked, attempting a friendly inquiry in return.

"What do you mean?"

"Where are you going?"

"I…I don't know," she murmured. "I didn't—don't—want to stay here. But I'm not going back to Homeworld either."

"I figured."

Lapis looked away. "When did it all change so much anyway?"

Yellow shrugged. "You're asking the wrong gem. I'm Era 2."

"Oh."

She didn't say anything else, and Yellow didn't know where to go from there anyway, so she just got back to work.

But Steven came bursting in minutes later with a big smile, and the emptiness in Lapis' eyes quickly began to be replaced by happiness when he ran and jumped up to give her a hug. "Hi!"

"Hi, Steven."

"Is Peridot here?"

"She fell asleep up there," Yellow said, pointing up to the loft. "Want me to wake her up?"

"No, it's okay! You can show her later, I bet she's really tired from working hard." Steven gave Yellow a quick hug in greeting too, then grandly handed over a large card to Lapis. "This is for you!"

Lapis stared down at it.

"Did I…get the words wrong?" he asked when she didn't say anything for a while.

"No. No, it's great."

 _To Lapis and Peridot: Congratulations on becoming roommates! I hope we can all keep having fun adventures together._

Lapis traced a finger over the paper, gazing down at the little people drawn there—her, Steven, and Peridot, all smiling.

"And I thought you guys could use some more decoration in here, you know? So if you want, part two of your welcoming present can be figuring that out together."

"Steven…"

"It doesn't mean you have to stay forever!" he said quickly. "Just, you know, we should make it feel more like home for as long as you do wanna be here."

She breathed out a small sigh of relief. "Thanks. I…I'd like that."

* * *

Yellow met back up with Blue for training and, to their surprise, Amethyst and Garnet were waiting alongside Pearl in the temple.

"If you're interested," Pearl began, "we thought we might try a different type of practice today."

"What kind of practice?" Blue asked curiously.

"Fusion practice," Garnet answered with a smile.

"Oh! With Green?" She looked to Yellow quickly. "Do you want to?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Yellow answered with a little smirk. "And I can tell _you_ want to."

"Well, it's important that she gets some practice too!" she said, blushing faintly.

"It is," she agreed. "Okay, we're in."

"Awesome!" Amethyst declared.

"We're going to keep it to two-gem fusions," Pearl explained as the five of them made their way to the door. "So it'll be Opal and Garnet as your opponents."

"Okay," Blue agreed excitedly.

"We're not practicing in the arena?" Yellow asked.

"Nah, Pearl doesn't want to mess it up," Amethyst said, rolling her eyes. "'Sides, the beach gives us more space to fight."

"Exactly," Pearl said, leading them all out onto the sand. "Yellow, Blue, if you would?"

Yellow held out a hand and Blue took it gracefully, fusing coming easily to them in a way that continued to make her feel a cozy sense of security.

"Hi," Green greeted the others with a smile. "It's great to see you again!"

"You too, welcome back!" Amethyst replied. "Wish we could hang out, buuut I think it's our turn now, right, P?"

"Whenever you're ready," she agreed happily. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, let's go."

The two of them fused with a bit less flair this time, just a few simple dance steps towards each other before their gems lit up and Opal appeared in their place.

"Hello again," she greeted them, leaning down to give Garnet a hug with one arm and Green a pat on the shoulder with another. "And nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Green returned. Despite her own additional height from being fused, she still felt small next to Opal. Must have been the Quartz in her, she thought.

"Are you ready to try this out?"

She nodded. "I don't know how good I'll be, but I want to learn."

"Of course, we don't expect you to be perfect," Opal said with a smile. "And you probably know more than you think—Blue and Yellow have been improving a lot lately."

"Thanks," Green replied, then wondered if it was odd to say thank you for something she hadn't exactly done herself. "Let's do this."

"Alright! Who would you like to spar with first?"

Green considered it, tugging at the sheer fabric around her shoulders. Opal was bigger and, from what Yellow and Blue had been told, had more of a ranged weapon. Both of those aspects posed their own challenges. On the other hand, there was Garnet, a little bit smaller than her, who they'd sparred with a bit before—but she definitely had more strength than Green did, and a lot more experience. And she was a fusion all the time, whereas Opal seemed to appear more for "special occasions" as Steven put it.

"Opal first," she decided, curiosity getting the better of her.

"I hope you're not choosing me as a warm-up," Opal laughed, reaching to her gems to pull out Amethyst's whip and Pearl's spear, snapping them together in a flash to form a bow.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Green smiled, reached to Blue's gem for her weapon, and then paused. "Wait, so I can summon separately while I'm fused?"

"Absolutely," Opal answered. "Though your combined weapon will likely be a better fit for you once you've learned to summon it."

"Okay." She pulled the spear out anyway, then touched Yellow's gem lightly, managing to get it to glow a bit but nothing else. "Guess I can't cheat," she said with a sigh. "She'd want to do it on her own first anyway." Green paused. "What are the rules on weapons for this match?"

"Use anything and everything you like. Let's just see where you're at right now."

"Sounds good."

"Go easy on her this first time," Garnet told Opal with a smirk.

"I will."

"Don't go easy on me, I have to learn!"

"You won't learn very much if I don't," Opal laughed. "But don't worry, it won't be _too_ easy."

She was right, Green discovered quickly. Opal was lithe and quick, and the Quartz in her definitely gave her some added strength.

But fighting her was fun. Green dodged behind rocks and crumbled bits of temple for cover, trying to use her own speed to her advantage as she avoided Opal's arrows and tried to sneak around behind her before she could react. She shielded her gems whenever she felt one of the energy blasts zip past her, a few of them grazing her arms or legs when she didn't get out of the way soon enough. The range of it made for an interesting challenge, and she flung smaller weapons in Opal's direction with a steady hand before switching to Blue's spear when she got in closer.

"You're doing great!" Opal encouraged her as the sharp blade just barely nicked her arm.

Fighting was exhilarating, in a different way from last time, because she had to think quickly and make split-second choices that would put her at an advantage. It wasn't just stabbing indiscriminately like she'd done with Malachite, it was strategy.

"Oh, _yes_ , I'm so proud of you for remembering your posture," Opal said when they got a bit closer to one another, sounding particularly Pearl-y.

Green laughed. "Of course I remember, you've drilled it into me a hundred times. _Two_ hundred."

"And I'm glad I did." She loosed an arrow that split into a flurry of them, sending Green ducking to flatten herself on the ground.

She rolled closer to the cliff side, springing up onto the rocks for added height and then flinging a carefully aimed dagger a few inches over Opal's head. It arced down, as she'd hoped, and embedded itself harmlessly in Opal's ponytail. That and another three, aimed at various points on her body, kept all of her arms occupied for the split second she needed. Green shoved herself away from the cliff, her jump sending her straight into Opal, who staggered but didn't fall, rapidly using her bow to block the following sword attack and pry Green off of her.

Green tumbled to the ground inelegantly, but tried to stay ready as Opal armed herself with another arrow.

"I could do this all day," Opal said, and it was more of a compliment than a boast. "It's been a while since I've had a chance to practice this way."

"Don't use up all her energy," Garnet called.

"Oh, _alright._ C'mon, I'll tag you in and take a little break. Is that alright, Green?"

She nodded breathlessly.

Opal leaped over to slap Garnet's hand lightly. She sprang into action, leaving Opal to lean back against the cliff and rest as she watched.

Garnet was a completely different type of fighter, and Green very nearly got hit with the first punch thrown. A jolt of panic went through her, even though she knew Garnet wouldn't actually hurt her. But last time she'd gotten into such a hands-on fight, Blue had taken too much damage. That couldn't happen again.

"You've got this," Garnet told her, pausing just a second for Green to regain her footing before attacking again.

Green threw her left arm up across her gems to block the next strike, but it was a feint and Garnet knocked her spear from her other hand. She sprang backward, summoning another and keeping her distance.

When Garnet lunged forward, she ducked and slashed the spear out to keep her at arm's length.

"Don't be afraid to go on the offensive," she said, not even pausing. "You're holding yourself back."

She was doing terribly. She could _tell_ she was doing terribly and they were only a couple minutes in. Fighting in close quarters felt _too much_ this time, and she couldn't bring herself to summon any of the boldness she'd felt when she'd been up against Malachite.

Green got a few good hits in, but even those weren't as strong as they should have been. Blue and Yellow, when they trained, always tried to envision their sparring partner as someone who would actually hurt them given the chance. It usually pushed them to work harder. But now, for Green, it was only making her realize how careful she had to be. It was getting in the way.

She narrowly avoided a kick and stumbled, falling sideways onto the sand. "I'm sorry," she gasped, "can we stop for today? I think I need some time to figure things out."

"Of course." Garnet helped her up, then knocked a fist lightly beneath the two gems on her chest. "You're alright. Don't overthink things."

"I won't," she agreed, though she wasn't sure how well she'd be able to keep that promise. "Thanks."

Garnet nodded, waving to Opal to come join them. "Any advice for her?"

" _Lots._ I need to write it all down so I don't forget. Pearl has so many ideas for our next training session!" Opal gently patted Green's head. "You're doing great."

"Thank you." She was pleased with some of her tricks during her spar with Opal, even if the latter half of the practice hadn't gone so well.

As Garnet and Opal made their way back to the house, promising she could come get them for more practice at any time, Green took a few minutes to herself on the beach, swinging Blue's spear lazily as she gazed out at the water. Eventually, feeling like her thoughts were getting nowhere useful, she turned to go back in.

To her surprise, Jasper called out to her as she passed by on her way to the temple.

"Why are you fighting scared all of a sudden?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're fighting scared, and it's ridiculous. I've been on the receiving end of your attacks and even if they weren't _good_ , I could at least tell you _meant_ it."

Green scowled. "It's none of your business how I fight."

"Yeah, you're right." Jasper crossed her arms. "I don't care if my enemy wants to be a wimp about everything, it just makes it easier."

"I'm not being a wimp, I'm strategizing," she replied.

"Ha."

"Not all of us can throw ourselves into the fray without thinking!" Green snapped, hands curling protectively over her gems.

"Is _that_ what you think we Quartzes do?"

"It's all they've seen you do."

"And half of you had the nerve to lecture _me_ about overgeneralizing based on gem type," she grumbled.

"The other half would be happy to do so as well."

"I don't doubt it."

Green crossed her arms. "Alright, tell me how you would do it."

"What?"

"Tell me."

"We're not on the same side here."

"I'm well aware, but you sounded like you were ready to give your opinion anyway, so go ahead."

"…Fine." Jasper looked her over critically. "You look like you'd rather run away than take a punch. You're never going to win a fight like that."

"Well, I need to be a defensive fighter, so—"

"There's a difference between defensive and scared." She pointed to her own chest, two fingers mirroring where Green's gems were. "You're putting a huge target right here, and that's not what you want. Don't show your enemy you have something to lose."

"Fair point," she admitted reluctantly.

"And you're not planning on fighting alone, right?" Jasper gestured back to the temple, then in the vague direction of the sky, which Green assumed meant the Pearls on Homeworld. "You have to learn to fight _with_ your allies, or you're just going to get in each other's way."

"That…does make sense."

"Which, if you cared to notice, is what Quartz soldiers do all the time. If you're a defensive fighter, you find somebody who's offensive to balance you out."

"That's what you did?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I don't know, you don't really seem like the teaming-up type. Your huge fusion mess aside."

"Shut up about fusion. It was bad enough watching you three today."

"You didn't have to watch," Green replied, the corner of her mouth curving up. "And I _am_ a fusion. Wouldn't that mean I have to stop talking altogether?"

Jasper glared at her. "You're _more_ irritating than the two of them put together, you know that?"

Green just smiled, shrugging.

"Anyway, you should figure out a better way to fight. That's all I'm saying."

"Well, thanks, I guess."

"Sure."

* * *

Green left the conversation at that, making her way back up to the temple and then over to the barn via warp pad. It was only once she arrived that she realized she'd forgotten to unfuse, and she came face to face with a very startled Lapis.

"Hi," she said awkwardly.

The smaller gem stood frozen in place, eyes wide, and then bolted up to the roof out of sight.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!"

Lapis didn't answer, and Green could feel both her components agree to separate, unfusing with a deep breath in and out.

Yellow stumbled a bit as they came apart and Blue steadied her by the arm, giving it a small squeeze. "Give me a minute," she murmured. She jumped up to grab the edge of the roof and peek over. "Hey," she said, getting Lapis' attention. "I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

"Fine," Lapis muttered, drawing her knees in close to her chest.

"We didn't mean to—"

"It's fine."

"Okay." It clearly wasn't, but Blue didn't want to stick around when she wasn't wanted. She was about to let go when Lapis spoke again.

"What's it like?"

"What do you mean?"

"Fusing. You all act like it's this great thing and…"

"And Malachite wasn't?" she finished tentatively.

"Malachite…consumed me."

Blue nodded, then carefully pulled herself all the way up onto the roof to sit. Maybe Lapis did need to talk about it, even though she never seemed to _want_ to. "It's different, when it's with somebody you care about. It feels safe."

"Nothing's felt _safe_ for a long time," Lapis said quietly.

"I get that."

She looked up sharply, like she was about to argue, but then stopped herself. "Maybe you do."

"…I'm sorry if seeing us fused made you feel less safe."

Lapis shrugged. "I can't avoid thinking about Jasper forever."

"No." Blue paused. "I tried sometimes, with Blue Diamond. It never really worked."

"Yeah." Lapis' hands curled into fists as she looked up to the slowly darkening sky. "You hate her?"

"Most days. But other times, it's just…complicated."

"Do you ever want to go back to her?" she asked.

"No," Blue said, not sure if she ought to be offended. "Why?"

Lapis' shoulders hunched, shame written all over her face. "Sometimes I want to go back to Jasper. To being Malachite."

"Oh," Blue said softly. "Yeah, I can understand that. It feels easier to stay sometimes, even if it hurts to be there."

"Yeah." She closed her eyes briefly. "But there's no point in going back anyway, is there?"

"No." She smiled faintly. "Take whatever freedom you can get."

Lapis laughed wryly. "I guess a Pearl would know best."

It was both genuine and humorous, and Blue liked her a little more for it.

"Thanks for listening."

"It's no trouble. Thank you too," Blue offered self-consciously, rising to her feet to give Lapis some space.

"For what?"

"You don't treat Pearls like objects."

"It's hard to treat anyone like an object when you've been one yourself for thousands of years."

They shared a fleeting smile, and for a moment Blue felt oddly comforted by Lapis' presence.

"See you around."

"Yeah," Blue replied. "See you around."


	23. Chapter 23

**Welcome back! Please be sure and head over to my tumblr to check out the new artwork for this chapter, courtesy of clawrenceon!**

 **And keep an eye out for some side stories that'll start getting posted this weekend.**

* * *

"Are you sure we shouldn't check with Chroma before we use this? Every time I've asked her how it's coming along, she makes it sound like the whole thing's falling apart." The deep red Pearl ducked her head under the table to look at the tangle of wires currently keeping this corner of their communications room running.

Silver shrugged, dropping her gem hand to her knee to project where her friend could see. " _Nah, it's fine_ ," she reassured her cheerfully. " _Everything here is falling apart anyway, no reason to worry about it._ "

"That unique blend of optimism and pessimism is inspiring."

" _Why thank you, Crimson._ "

"I still don't want to mess this up though; she's worked hard on it." Crimson sighed and sat up, pushing her voluminous wavy ponytail back behind her so it was out of the way.

" _You're just making up excuses because you're all_ nervous," Silver teased playfully, poking her in the arm.

"I'm _moderately_ nervous," she admitted. "But only because I wasn't here last time they called."

" _Hey, it's fine, they're not going to care. Besides, that was the day you brought Snow in, wasn't it? That's more important._ "

"Yeah, you're right." Crimson smiled. "And then once we got her settled in, I got to listen to the three of you gush about how cool they all were, so I assume they're good gems."

" _They seem like it!_ " Silver paused. " _So…can we call now?_ "

"You just want a chance to see the Renegade again, don't you?"

" _Guilty as charged._ "

"…You know how to work all this stuff?"

" _Most of it._ " Silver shrugged. " _I mean, I know how to turn it on and use it, I just can't guarantee I can fix it if something happens._ "

"That's good enough for me." Crimson scooted her chair a little bit closer to the screen. "Come on then, I'm happy to indulge you."

" _Thanks!_ " Silver settled in comfortably beside her as Crimson started the connection, legs pulled up criss-cross on the seat and fingers tapping a quiet rhythm against the chair.

The screen went a blank light gray as they waited for the transmission to be picked up on Earth. One minute, then two ticked by, nothing to listen to but the sound of Silver's fingertips and Crimson's automatic repetition of the same rhythm with her own.

" _Maybe_ their _end fell apart_ ," Silver suggested lightly after a while.

"I suppose they must be working with very different resources over there. Maybe we should—oh, never mind!"

The screen came to life, a little static-y at first but then clearing up to reveal Blue, who was smiling warmly as she greeted them. "Oh, someone new! Hello!"

There was such genuine delight in her voice that Crimson was a little taken aback, smile beginning to spread on her own lips. "It's been awhile since anybody called me _that_ ," she laughed. "Hello, I'm Crimson. And I think you already met Silver."

" _Hey, good to see you again._ "

"Yeah, it's great to see both of you." Blue lifted her fist to her gem in a quick salute. "Is that a greeting and parting thing?" she asked. "Or more of a serious-moment thing?"

"The latter two usually," Crimson said helpfully, "but that's hardly set in stone." She touched her own fist to the gem in her right shoulder. "It's a pleasure."

"Likewise. I'm sorry, I _think_ we've met before, but…it's been awhile?"

"Yeah, that's right," Crimson replied, running an uneasy hand over her gem. "Uh, it was about eight hundred years ago when you showed me the projections? My hair was down and I wore that weird skirt thing that was all the rage back then?"

"Oh, good, I _did_ remember correctly!" Blue leaned forward conspiratorially. "You look much better without the skirt; I thank the stars Blue Diamond didn't have me changing all the time. And it's great to see you're alright," she added, sitting back. "I kind of assumed the worst when I stopped seeing you around."

"Yeah, I ran away a while back," she explained. Her fingers curled briefly into the hem of her shorts. "Wandered around for a bit and then met Silver."

" _She broke in_ ," Silver said with a grin.

"The door wasn't even locked," she laughed. "You'd just shoved a bunch of old junk in front of it, and I assumed the mess meant it was deserted."

" _Fair point._ "

"Anyway, it's great to see you again," Crimson said, turning her attention back to Blue. "I hope we aren't interrupting anything."

"Not at all," she replied. "We just got done with a little extra training, and Yellow went out to practice her summoning."

"You can summon?" Crimson asked, surprised.

"Oh! Yes. Or I can, and Yellow's getting close." She blushed a little. "I could show you, if you like."

" _Yes, please!_ " Silver interjected.

She laughed a little and then reached to her gem, pulling out a long crescent-shaped spear with a pretty, winding design up near the blade. Crimson and Silver stared, impressed, as she held it up for them to see and then slid it back into her gem.

" _That's amazing_ ," Silver said, looking wistful.

"It really is," Crimson agreed. "If you're willing, we'd love some assistance with that whenever you get here."

"Yeah, absolutely." Blue paused, realizing something. "I'm sorry, I didn't even ask why you called. I hope everything's alright there."

"It is," Crimson reassured her. "I just wanted to say hello personally, since I missed you last time. I'm…unofficially in charge of things here, so I figured it would be best."

" _She's totally official_ ," Silver added with a grin, projection just out of Crimson's range of vision while still being readable on camera. " _And great at it._ "

Blue hid a smile. "Well, it's an honor. I'm sure that's a lot of work."

"Oh, no, I'm happy to help," Crimson said quickly. "Anyway, I also wanted to tell you what we know about the Ruby squadron being sent to Earth. And maybe make a few plans about your arrival?"

"Oh, yes, definitely. Where would you like to start?"

"Well, in regards to your arrival… I hope this isn't too forward, but I've had everyone help draw up a list of some essentials we could use here—I know you don't have access to a lot of things there, but even if there's just one or two you could bring, it would be a big help."

"No, we'd be happy to bring some things along. And I can always ask Yellow, Pearl, and Peridot if there's something they could make with alternate parts for the rest. They've been doing a great job of it with the ship and everything already; I'm sure they could help."

"Thanks."

They spared a moment for Blue to copy down the requested items onto some paper. "Oh, and I had a question for you too," she added, twirling the pen in her fingers. "We're going to need a safer way to get back and forth between here and there than just flying a ship all over the place. The best idea we've got at the moment is building some kind of secure warp pad system to go directly between the two planets, but…"

"I don't know how we'd get access to that material without any gem noticing," Crimson said honestly. "You need pretty high authorization to even get close to some of it, and while I _can_ ask White to try, I'd rather not. She's already rather prone to…pushing her limits."

"Oh, no, we've got most of it already."

"You do?"

Blue nodded. "There's a lot of old broken galaxy warp pads here. If we can take the scraps and melt them down somehow, then…"

" _That_ I can help you with. We've got a forge. Or, well, we have a work-in-progress forge, but melting is definitely within our capabilities."

"That's perfect then," Blue said, relieved. "I've got the list the others gave me for the less difficult parts, if you're able to get ahold of them. If not, I'm sure we can still find a way to make it work."

"I'll pass it on to everybody here," Crimson agreed.

Silver nodded, quickly scribbling down the list that Blue held up to the screen. " _We have some of this already._ "

"We do?"

" _Sky dropped off some things just a little while ago. Lots of good stuff, according to Chroma._ "

"Oh, good for her," she said fondly. "And thanks," she added once Silver had finished and handed the data pad over to her. "We'll do our best," she told Blue.

"Thank you." Blue dipped her head slightly in gratitude.

"Anyway, let's see…I have the rest of the information for you on file; do you think you can receive it over there?"

"Um, maybe?" She shrugged. "I'd have to ask Yellow, can you give me a second?"

"Sure, no problem." Crimson watched her stand and hurry off out of sight, taking a moment to look at the room in the background. It looked like some kind of engineering workspace perhaps, but nothing like any she'd seen on Homeworld.

" _I guess that's their ship, huh?_ " Silver said, pointing to the far left corner of the screen. " _No matter how good a job they do on it, I can see why they don't want to be using it for any long space journeys._ "

" _Well, it is an escape pod_ ," Crimson agreed, projecting from her own gem. " _We'll have to figure out where we can put this warp pad in…_ "

" _Common room?_ "

" _Maybe, but I want to get everyone else's opinions on it first._ "

" _I vote maybe. Mostly because it means we'd have gems working in there for a long time before it's ready, and that's not the most relaxing atmosphere._ "

" _Duly noted._ "

Blue came back on screen soon after, smiling. "Okay, Yellow says 'You can try it but I have significantly less faith in that old junk than Pearl does,'" she said, pitching her voice more like Yellow's for the quote. "So go ahead, we'll see how it does! If something goes wrong, we'll just call you right back."

"Alright, sounds good." She opened up the file she needed on her screen and glanced over it quickly before pressing send. "Here goes."

It took approximately two seconds for the terminal to whir noisily, make a disturbing sort of clunk, and then black out entirely, taking the rest of the power with it and leaving them in the dark.

"…Or something could go wrong on our end," Crimson sighed. "What was that you were saying about everything falling apart, Sil?"

" _Oops, tempted fate._ " Silver kept her gem lit after she finished talking, projecting the light out a little further so she could see Crimson.

"Don't," she said, catching Silver's hand briefly in her own. "I can do it, no need to wear yourself out." A soft red light flooded from her shoulder, and she turned to take a look at the terminal.

" _Thanks._ "

There was a small thump and a muffled curse from the doorway, Chroma stumbling in. "What in the stars did you two do? I was only gone a little while."

" _Sorry, sorry, I think it just overloaded. The base's power should be fine, it just didn't know what to do with the overflow so it shut down._ "

"We were trying to send some information to Earth," Crimson added apologetically. "Next time we'll keep it simple."

Chroma nodded in the faint light, feeling her way over as Crimson helped illuminate her path as best she could.

"Thanks," Chroma said quietly. "Shine it down here?" She crawled under the table and rolled onto her back, long hair splayed out underneath her. "Okay, yeah, I think I can fix it. I'll have to replace this and this and…I have nothing to replace that with but we'll have to manage. Maybe if I strip down some of that junk White brought in last week that's just been taking up space… Sil, can you go kickstart the power everywhere else, please? I don't want everyone to have to sit around in the dark. And it would be nice to see what I'm doing too."

" _I'm on it. And I'll bring your supplies too!_ " Silver smiled and slipped under the table briefly to kiss her.

"What was that for?" Chroma laughed as they parted.

" _Being resourceful and cute. And also really hard to see right now; I think I got more of your chin than your lips._ "

"It's appreciated anyway."

Silver laughed silently and slipped back out, narrowly avoiding banging her head, and took off with a little wave. " _Be back in a sec! Then I can aim better._ "

Chroma shook her head, smiling. "So," she asked Crimson, "want to take bets on how soon we can get this thing working again?"

"I'm sure Quinacridone would be happy to set that up for us."

" _Too_ happy. Did you need to call back right away?" she checked.

"Well, a short call would be good; we didn't actually get the information to them, I don't think," she replied. "What's your best guess on the time?"

"Hmm…half an hour? Maybe even sooner if Aura's willing to come help out," she added hopefully.

"I'll go find her then."

"She's probably still in the common room with Viri; they were sorting through some of those old files."

"Okay, thanks." Crimson started to get up. "You okay in the dark?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Lights should come on any time now anyway."

"Alright, just checking." Crimson made her way to the door, moving a little slower than usual just to be sure she didn't trip over something. Once there, she walked straight through to the common room, where she found the soft glow of one gold gem. "Hey, sorry for the surprise."

"It's okay," Aura replied easily.

"Viri's not with you?"

"She was, but she went to go make sure everyone else is alright. Is there anything I can do to help? I can go get her if you like."

"No, actually Chroma said she could use her favorite assistant."

"Oh?" she giggled.

"I'm paraphrasing, but yes. Do you mind?"

"Not at all!" Aura got to her feet, trailing just behind Crimson as they made their way back. "So what did you and Silver do?" she asked innocently.

"How'd you know it was us?" Crimson protested.

"Lucky guess." She could see a hint of Aura's smile in the dim light. Then, in an instant, they were both blinded by the sudden blaze of the power coming back on. "Oh, that was fast."

"Silver went and restarted the main system. It's really just the communications terminal that we messed up, I think."

"Does that mean I get a day off?" Aura said playfully.

"You can take a day off whenever, no need to wait for something to break," Crimson returned lightly. "But sure, take one."

"Thanks," she laughed, flashing Crimson a bright smile before running ahead to find Chroma. "Reporting for duty!" she called as she wriggled in beside the other Pearl to look at the terminal.

Silver, meanwhile, met Crimson in the hallway on her way back and hurried inside as well, making a beeline for the other two.

Crimson caught her by the back of her leotard. "If you go over there, they're not going to get any work done."

" _Fine, fine, make me miss out on cuddles._ " Silver stuck out her tongue.

All the same, she sat happily beside Crimson and watched the other two work, making light conversation and swinging her feet back and forth.

It wasn't long at all before Chroma and Aura squeezed out from underneath the terminal, Chroma giving them a big thumbs up. "All set."

"You're the best," Crimson said gratefully, giving her a quick hug. "Thanks, both of you."

"No problem, it wasn't too hard a fix." Chroma glanced down as Silver slipped a hand into hers and smiled. "Need me for anything else?"

"No, I think we're good. You're welcome to stick around though."

"No, it's okay. I'm just going to work over there, if that's alright."

"Sure."

Chroma checked things over one more time, set everything up for them, and then gave Silver's hand a quick squeeze before moving off to the side. Aura bade them a small goodbye too, giving the two of them each a little kiss on the cheek before slipping out to resume her previous task.

"Okay, let's try this again," Crimson declared. "Sorry we disappeared on you," she said as soon as Blue—and Yellow too this time—appeared on screen, much faster than before. "We're using a lot of old equipment where new equipment should be and sometimes it doesn't cooperate."

"Oh, no, it's fine!" Blue said quickly. "Maybe Yellow will be able to help a little when we arrive. She's really good with that sort of thing."

"She can have it all!" Chroma called from off screen, making the others laugh.

"Thanks," Yellow said doubtfully, not quite managing to conceal her smile. "And hi again."

" _Hi!_ " Silver replied, Chroma speaking at the same time. " _Blue said you were summoning. How's it going?_ "

"Decent enough, until I got summoned in here to be tech support."

" _Sorry about that_ ," she said sheepishly.

"It's fine," Yellow said briskly. "And, um, nice to meet you," she added, looking at Crimson. "I'm Yellow."

"Crimson," she replied. "Nice to meet you."

"Anything you need help with over there?" she asked, gesturing vaguely to the screen.

"I think we've got it figured out for the time being; we're just going to have to do things the old-fashioned way." She paused. "Should we pick up where we left off?"

Blue and Yellow nodded.

"Alright, I'll just hold this up so you can take a picture this time," Crimson said, lifting the data pad from the table and enlarging the font so they could see it better. "From what we know, there'll be five Rubies aboard a typical Roaming Eye. Their primary mission will be retrieving the Jasper that Yellow Diamond sent to Earth before. Secondary mission is a scan of the planet to determine the status of the Cluster."

Yellow nodded, holding up some kind of tablet to take a picture. "Got it. And they'll be reporting back any other abnormalities too, I assume?"

"Yes. Apparently your former Diamond was fairly…noisy about this trip, so tread carefully. They're going to want to bring back good news for her."

"We will," Blue said. "Do we know anything about the particular Rubies aboard the ship?"

"A little bit. We have three out of the five profiles; I'm afraid we haven't been able to gather more than that just yet." Crimson flicked to the next screen, double checking before holding it up again. "These three."

Yellow took another picture, then set the device aside to take a closer look herself. "They all look the same to me," she muttered.

"It can be a little difficult to tell them apart aside from gem placement," Crimson conceded. "The one you need to worry about is this one—gem in her left eye. Ruby 1F4 Cut 4ND."

" _She's the oldest_ ," Silver explained. " _And she fought in the war for Earth, so she's going to be the most experienced one there._ "

"Right," Blue said, mouth set determinedly. "That's good to know. We'll have to ask the others if they remember her just in case."

"Yeah, we don't need any extra surprises," Yellow agreed. "Anything else we should know?"

"That's all we've got for now," Crimson said. "We'll call if we find anything more, but I'm afraid that'll probably be it. The full roster might only get to us when the ship is leaving, and that wouldn't really give us much time to get the information to you."

"Ah, good point," Blue murmured. "But, honestly, this is more than enough. We really appreciate it."

"We really appreciate you," Crimson replied a little awkwardly, smiling. "It's fine, it's been good practice for gathering other information too."

"Thanks." She blushed. "Um, we'll do our best and hopefully we can join you soon."

" _Looking forward to it_ ," Silver projected, a warm smile on her face. " _We'll do our best too._ "

"Definitely," Crimson agreed. "And we'll let you go now; I'm sure you have a lot to prepare for. And _we_ have some more repairs to help with."

"Okay," Blue laughed. "It was great to see you both."

"You too." Crimson saluted her smoothly, Silver doing the same. "I honor your service."

"I honor your bravery," Blue and Yellow said in almost perfect synchrony, then looked at each other in mild surprise and amusement.

She smiled as they ended the call. She was relieved, more than anything, that they didn't seem nearly as distant and grand as they had before, when Blue was whispering forbidden stories or news reached them of the two's daring escape. They were Pearls, just like the Pearls who'd gathered into their little home here. Everything they'd managed to do was just as possible for everyone else. Or all the important things anyway.

Crimson slipped out of her chair and began helping Chroma sort through her supply box. "We're a real rebellion now, aren't we?"

"Hey, we were real before, even when it was just three of us."

" _Everybody's just more_ together _now_ ," Silver added.

"Yeah," Crimson breathed. "Yeah, we are."


	24. Chapter 24

Somehow, in the midst of all their communications and preparations, Yellow ended up in the kitchen, helping make cookies along with Blue, Pearl, and Steven.

"Steven, are you sure you don't want Amethyst to help you instead? We don't really know what we're doing." Blue squinted down at the cookbook in front of her. "I'm not even sure _Pearl_ knows what she's doing," she whispered conspiratorially.

"I heard that, Blue, and I'll have you know I have had some very successful cooking ventures in the past."

" _Ad_ ventures," Steven said cheerfully.

"…Yes, I suppose that might be more accurate."

"What did you do?" Yellow asked curiously.

"That's a story for another day," Pearl said quickly. "Did you find a bowl?"

"Yeah, it wasn't exactly the most difficult task you could have given me." She placed it on the counter. "So, what, we stick everything in here, mix it around, and you get cookies?"

"You have to put it in the oven and _then_ you get cookies," Blue corrected her.

"Great," she said without much enthusiasm. "What's first?"

It was more fun than Yellow anticipated, actually. In the end, they made two batches of cookies—mostly because Blue had accidentally put in the wrong measurement for sugar in the first one, Pearl had followed it up by overanalyzing how to balance the recipe back out, and Yellow had just tilted the messy bowl Steven's direction so he could get a taste of the super-sweet dough before tipping it all in the trash. The second batch had gone a lot better and Steven had even made some different shapes out of the dough, they all got rather blobby by the time they came out.

Pearl served them all up on a large plate once they were cooled and then they took them around to everyone—Garnet and Amethyst praising their work, Lapis trying a small taste and then quickly eating two more, and Peridot just appreciatively holding one up to her face to inhale the chocolatey scent.

And then…

There was a human phrase about killing someone with kindness. Yellow was pretty sure that's what they were doing to Jasper, and it was oddly satisfying. She smirked as they took the plate of cookies out to the beach.

It was hard to tell what the Quartz soldier was thinking about everything that was going on lately. The only things she really _knew_ were going on were whatever tidbits of information Steven shared with her, which was very little about the Crystal Gems and a whole lot about Earth pastimes.

Jasper wasn't nearly as hostile as before—she'd actually kind of _apologized_ to Yellow when she saw her a few days ago, and she definitely seemed to be softening at the edges when it came to Steven—but her shields usually went straight back up whenever anyone besides the youngest gem was around. Yellow was pretty sure she wasn't going to want cookies from the four of them.

Still, they did it anyway. Blue carried the plate, piled high with treats, smiling around the lollipop in her mouth.

"Jasper! Hi!" Steven called as he led the way over to the destabilization field.

"Hey, Steven," she answered, lifting her head. She was lying on her stomach, like she had been sleeping, but got up when she caught sight of the others. "And company."

 _Company_ was better than _Pearls_ , Yellow figured.

"How have you…been?" Pearl tried courteously. It was probably the first time she'd seen Jasper in a while.

"Trapped."

She made an impatient sound. "You could at least _try_ to make conversation."

"What for? I'm still your prisoner, aren't I?" She glanced over at Blue and Yellow. "So what weird stuff did you bring today?" Jasper asked.

"They're called cookies," Blue offered, setting the plate down and letting Steven push it through the barrier.

"Huh."

"We made them," Yellow added, allowing a moderate amount of haughtiness into her voice.

Jasper hadn't exactly been grabbing for it, but she immediately gave up any pretense of even looking at the delivery and stared at her in disbelief. " _You_ made them?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. We all did."

"They're really good," Blue added.

"You eat?"

"Well, no, but they smell good and we've gotten good reviews from everyone who _does_ eat."

"I don't want them."

"Oh, come on, there's no reason to be so suspicious," Pearl said irritably, crossing her arms. "It's not like we're going to poison you."

"Yeah, I'm not even sure you _can_ poison a gem," Yellow agreed.

Jasper looked at them for a moment, then pointedly pushed the plate away from her, halfway out of the destabilizing field. "Now I _really_ don't want them."

"Are you _sure?_ " Steven asked.

"Positive."

"Oh well," he sighed dramatically. "Since I'm the only one here who could possibly complete this enormous task, I will take it upon myself to finish all these cookies. What a terrible tragedy."

Yellow couldn't quite tell if he was bluffing to try and get Jasper to taste them or if he was just having fun regardless.

The first one, she decided, when she saw him sneak a look at Jasper.

"Go ahead," the Quartz shrugged. "You could use some more muscle anyway."

"That's not exactly how human biology—oh, never mind," Pearl sighed. "Just be careful you don't give yourself a stomachache, Steven."

"I won't!" he agreed. "And hey," he added, turning back to Jasper, "I have plenty of muscle, see?" He stuck his arm through the destabilizing field, making Pearl jump.

"Steven!"

Jasper looked warily at him, then poked one large finger to Steven's flexed bicep. "Decent start, I guess, since you're not made with it."

There was a silent, collective sigh of relief when Steven withdrew his arm. For half a second, Yellow had expected Jasper to drag Steven in there with her, and Pearl's mind had definitely gone a similar place.

"You're _sure_ you don't want to taste one of these delicious masterpieces?" Steven offered again, picking up a cookie. "I made one shaped like your gem!"

"I'm sure." To her credit, she tried very hard not to look irritated about the imperfect shape of the "gem" he showed her.

"There may never be another one like it _ever again._ "

"I don't care."

"That's because you've never tasted one before."

"Yeah, exactly. And I don't want to."

"Not even a tiny bite?"

"No."

"Not even—"

"Oh, just hand it over already," Jasper interrupted impatiently. "You're not going to leave until I try one, are you?"

"Nope!"

She rolled her eyes and took the cookie he passed through the field, nearly crumbling it with her grip and having to catch the pieces in her other hand. "Okay, here, I'm eating." She bit off the top point and chewed.

"What do you think?"

"I think Yellow Diamond would shatter me personally if she knew what I was doing."

"Probably," Yellow agreed lightly. "Though all things considered, she'd be in a bit of a dilemma, sentencing a war hero like you to shattering because of a cookie. She might let you live just to save herself the embarrassment."

"Hardly any more embarrassment than learning her Pearl ran off with Blue Diamond's, started fusing all over the place, and is probably planning some kind of revolt."

She blinked, not sure what to make of Jasper's words at first—or rather, her tone. She wasn't trying to insult Yellow, not really. It was more of a self-awareness, a sign she understood just how ridiculous everything about this would seem in their Diamond's eyes.

"But how's the cookie _taste?_ " Steven asked with a smile, taking one for himself. "Almost worth coming to Earth for?"

"Definitely not." Then she paused. "But I'll take one more, since clearly my fate has been sealed anyway."

Blue laughed aloud and pushed the plate most of the way in for Jasper to take a couple. "See, things could be worse."

"Things _will_ be worse," Jasper returned. "I don't know what you're all so smiley about."

She shrugged. "Being able to do things like make cookies for no reason, I guess."

Jasper didn't say anything else after that, and Steven hummed a tune Yellow didn't recognize between mouthfuls of cookie, and they all ended up sitting on the beach for a few minutes as the sun began to sink in the sky. And maybe that was progress.

* * *

The next few mornings found Yellow practicing her summoning. Again.

She knew it was important on a number of levels, especially if she were to ever be in need of a weapon and have no material ones on hand. She knew it was supposed to complement her skills better that what she was using now. But still…she felt confident with her swords.

It was less Pearl's encouragements of "better to get started sooner rather than later!" and more Blue's unspoken excitement whenever Yellow brought up the topic that kept her at it. There was a part of her that wanted to fulfill that excitement, a part of her that wanted to impress Blue, in a way, even though she knew she didn't _need_ to. She wanted Blue to get the same kind of cute, giddy look she got when she'd first learned how to do it herself and the almost-too-sweet praise she'd give and…

Her thoughts flickered back to the faint touch of her lips on Blue's gem and she immediately lost any concentration she'd had for the summoning.

Stars, she didn't have time for this. Yellow shook the image out of her head and tried again. _Summon._

Blue's face appeared before her again, though this time in reality, and she giggled when Yellow jumped. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine." She watched as Blue sat down daintily on the grass in front of her, then thought better of it and stretched her legs out like she was trying to take up more space than her Diamond would have ever allowed. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, just thought I'd join you. That okay?"

It was almost always okay, but Yellow nodded. She liked that Blue asked.

"So…" Blue's words began slowly, hesitantly, though she kept her slightly distant eyes on Yellow's. "I was wondering about something but I got kind of distracted with everything else going on. With Green…was that you worrying about me or…?" Blue shook her head. "I know it sounds weird, but I couldn't really tell which one of us that fear was coming from."

Yellow blinked. "Wasn't it Green's?"

The blank look Blue gave her for a moment made her worry that it was too simplistic of an answer. But then it blossomed into a little smile instead. "Yeah, I guess it was," she said, seeming relieved. "I was kind of worried it might just be me."

"You can take half the blame if it makes you feel better. Or maybe a quarter, considering how much energy I have to put into worrying about you."

"Very funny." She gave Yellow's arm a little poke. "But thanks."

"You're welcome." Yellow slipped a finger under the edge of her sock and tugged it even with the other one again, not sure when it had decided to try and slide down.

"I just don't want her to keep being scared. She's—She's good, I know that, even if she hasn't had as much practice as the two of us separately." Blue frowned. "And I want to give her more time, but I also want to be just _me_ , because that's new enough as it is."

It wasn't what Yellow expected to hear her say, especially after seeing her be the one so enthusiastic about fusion in the first place. But it was what she'd needed to hear, perhaps, because she'd been thinking the same but wasn't sure how Blue would take it after all the recent discoveries about her gem. "Maybe we could schedule time?" Yellow suggested carefully. "Like once or twice a week or something, if we're able to."

"That," Blue replied with a smile, "actually sounds really good."

"Good." Yellow returned it softly. "I want to be just me too. Or, you know, us but not always fused."

Blue nodded happily. "I think the more time we're _us_ , the more confident she'll get too."

Yellow didn't have very long to process that statement before Blue was asking something else entirely.

"Can I help you practice?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'd appreciate it."

Blue moved to sit closer beside her, beaming. "How's it been going today?"

"About the same as yesterday."

"Hmm." She considered the predicament for a moment. "Have you tried relaxing?"

"About once every hundred years or so," Yellow deadpanned.

Blue laughed and shook her head. "Sure." She bumped her shoulder lightly against Yellow's. "Okay, yeah, you're not really a relax-and-let-it-happen gem. I'm just trying to think of some other ideas, since this isn't really working for you either."

"I'm getting closer, I think," Yellow argued.

"I know. You've been doing really good!" She touched just beside Yellow's gem carefully. "I don't like seeing you stress over it, that's all."

"The stress is more residual from everything else," she muttered.

"Oh."

"Not Green," Yellow said hastily. "Just…knowing we'll be going back to Homeworld soon and everything."

"Which part of going back?" Blue asked carefully.

She shrugged, averting her eyes. "I guess I don't really know what to expect. Or, no, it's more about what the other Pearls are going to expect of me."

"Yellow…" She ran her fingers lightly through the other Pearl's short hair. "Whatever they thought of you before, you've come a long way. They'll see that."

"Thanks." Yellow didn't really want to talk about it more than that—it was silly, she kept telling herself, to worry about things that hadn't even happened yet. There'd be plenty of time to think about it once they were through with defending Earth and making the journey back. Summoning should come first.

Blue seemed to recognize she wanted to get back on topic, and she gave Yellow's hair a little ruffle, ignoring the halfway-irritated click of the tongue she got in return. "Okay, back to summoning. Let's see…" She thought for a moment. "I don't actually _know_ what would help, to be honest. I'm still learning my own weapon."

"Could I watch you do it a few times?" Yellow asked. "I know that seems silly, but everyone always pulls their weapons out really fast, so there's not any opportunity to really look at what's happening."

"Oh! Sure, if you think it'll help!" Blue looked pleased to be able to provide some kind of assistance. "I'll try and slow it down."

"Thanks."

Blue took a breath to center herself, then reached to her gem. It lit with the summoning and the end of her spear met securely with her palm. She pulled it out smoothly, careful not to hit Yellow beside her. "Hmm, I guess that wasn't very slow," she laughed apologetically. "Hold on, let me try that again."

Yellow watched as she concentrated hard to get the spear in her hand to dissipate—her practice lately had been trying to get it to do that on command. After a moment's struggle, it obeyed, and Blue reached back to her gem to try again.

"Like…this?" Her gem lit up with its soft blaze of blue once more, and she focused on slowing down the actual summoning process. "It's not exactly like putting something in your gem. It doesn't come from the same place, but somewhere kind of…closer? Because it's not something you're storing, it's something you own. Maybe that doesn't quite make sense…"

"No, it does." She saw the spear appear again, and then Blue released it, letting it disappear back into her gem. It made plenty of sense. Yellow _had_ been thinking of it, at the end of the day, as summoning an _object._ Maybe that was wrong.

Blue looked on curiously as Yellow tried to summon once, twice, three times. Her gem was glowing now too, and Blue's smile made her feel like she'd already done it.

 _It's something you own._

Something she owned, like the little gifts she'd gotten in her time on Earth, right? Something that was hers, and something that said she belonged to herself too.

 _Something I own._

And now she understood. That felt right, more than anything she's tried so far.

"Spar with me," Yellow said after a few minutes.

"What?"

"Spar with me, please." She stood up, then drew Blue to her feet as well. "Not anything intense, just an easy one. I've been doing this wrong. Sitting around and trying to get this to happen when I don't really need it isn't going to work."

Blue nodded, realization dawning in her eyes. "Okay." Her hand went back for her spear, a smile on her face as she twirled it in one hand. "Let's see what happens."

Their fight seemed more like a dance than usual, smoother and practiced. It wasn't a real spar, but more of a rehearsal that Yellow hoped was getting her in the right mindset. They each knew how the other moved, how they fought. There was no danger in Blue's half-learnt spear techniques, only familiarity.

And it worked. It was enough of a simulation that she was summoning for a _reason_ , and her gem glowed bright with effort. "Keep going," she told Blue, who had hesitated just a little at the light, and she quickly resumed her "attack."

Yellow put her hand to her gem as she'd seen Blue and Pearl do so often now, and finally there was something there to meet her fingertips. It wasn't quite solid yet, but it was _there_ , and she could feel a handle—hilt?—of some kind forming before her.

Almost.

It was another five minutes of sparring and dodging before Yellow called it off, her energy feeling drained from the constant effort of trying to summon.

"You okay?" Blue checked, coming over to stand beside her, one arm threading through Yellow's and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah, just tired." _Almost_ kept being almost, indistinct handle still present and slowly trying to coalesce into a solid weapon.

"I think it could be a sword," Blue said encouragingly, leaning in closer to look. "With a really pointy guard?"

Yellow glanced down at it again. "I guess." That would be pretty nice, she thought, since she already knew how to use a sword.

"Oh!" Blue's startled gasp an instant later made Yellow jump and she tore her eyes away from her weapon to follow the other Pearl's gaze, panic shooting through her chest.

 _Not now._

Above them, yellow searchlight glaring against the clouds before sweeping downwards, was a Roaming Eye.

"Run!" Yellow said urgently, grabbing Blue's hand. "Don't let it scan us!"

She thanked the stars they had stayed right beside the barn. The two of them rushed inside, their hurried entrance rousing Peridot and Lapis, who had been watching Camp Pining Hearts in the loft.

"They're here, a ship is here, we need to get the others!" Blue said quickly.

"Oh my stars," Peridot screeched. "They can't be here yet, we're supposed to have more time—"

"They're here _now._ " Blue tossed her a sword from her gem. "Can you run to the warp pad and alert everyone?"

"I-I…" She jumped as the searchlight began scanning the barn through the not-fully-repaired hole. "I can," she said determinedly, rushing outside before she could be caught in the beam.

"We'll have to hold them off in the meantime," Blue said, already summoning her weapon.

"We'd have to wait for them to land before we could do any damage," Yellow protested, pushing Blue and Lapis farther away from the search beam. "They'll find us first."

"I'll take care of it," Lapis said.

"What?"

"I can help." She spread her wings. "If you two go out there right now, the only thing it'll accomplish is getting you seen, and I don't think you want that."

"Are you sure?" Blue asked.

"Earth's not my home, but it's Steven's and he cares about protecting it, so…I can help. At least for little stuff like this."

 _Little stuff_ seemed an understatement, but then again…with Lapis' powers, she supposed five Rubies weren't a big threat.

"By the way, why do you have a sword sticking out of your gem?" Lapis asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, summoning practice."

Lapis nodded and took off outside.

Yellow reached to push the weapon back in—she couldn't waste time figuring it out now—but, to her surprise, found that it was solid. Solid, smooth, silvery sharpness that she could pull free.

And it _was_ a sword—not one of Pearl's like she'd been practicing with, but one that felt stronger in her hands, one that was all hers.

There was surprise and delight on Blue's face when Yellow looked up, and she was sure she was mirroring that expression herself, happiness filling her in a way she hadn't expected despite the less-than-ideal situation.

"I did it!"


	25. Chapter 25

"You summoned!" Blue gasped, her hand coming to rest over Yellow's so she could tilt the new sword in different directions to get a better look.

"All I needed was a mildly life-threatening situation," she said dryly, but she was equally transfixed by the gleam of the metal and its curious hooked shape where the point of the blade should have been.

"Congratulations!" It had to be very quiet congratulations since they were trying not to draw any attention to themselves, but Blue sounded exuberant and proud all the same. She traced her finger along the hilt of the sword. There was a crescent shaped blade that acted as a guard and Yellow could see a sparkle of amusement in Blue's eyes before she even said anything. "You didn't have to coordinate with me, you know," she teased.

"I didn't do it on purpose!"

"That's why it's nice."

Yellow was just about to come up with a good retort when Peridot, Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, and Steven all came rushing in one after the other.

"What'd we miss?" Amethyst asked, wide-eyed.

"The Roaming Eye you were expecting showed up a little early, I smacked it into the ground to buy you some time, and Yellow summoned something," Lapis said, sounding almost bored as she walked back in as well.

"It what? You _what?_ " Pearl hurried over to Yellow, looking like she didn't know whether she wanted to celebrate or summon her own weapon and hole up somewhere safe with Steven. "Oh, you did, that's wonderful!"

"Do you know what kind of sword it is?" Yellow asked sheepishly. "I haven't seen any like it in your collection."

"Oh, I'm sure I have a pair somewhere." Pearl examined the blade. "They're meant to be dual wielded, and they're called twin hooks or tiger hook swords here on Earth. You can link them together and swing them like…" She projected an image from her gem to illustrate.

Yellow didn't particularly feel up to summoning _another_ one at the moment, but she was pleased to hear that news anyway. It seemed a little flashy, but it could definitely do some real damage, seeing as pretty much every edge besides the place where her hand gripped it was razor sharp.

"That's super cool!" Steven said in an excited whisper.

"And I look forward to beginning practice with them," Pearl added, "but I'm afraid it'll have to wait. How's it looking out there?"

"There's five of them like we expected," Garnet confirmed from the door, leaning back to stay out of sight as she watched the Rubies exit the ship.

"What should we do?" Blue asked, adjusting the clips in her hair so they held back her short bangs for maximum visibility.

"We stick with Steven's plan," she replied firmly. "Talk to them first, and try to get access to the ship for a minute. If that doesn't work, we can take them down pretty easy and then decide what to do from there, preferably without revealing too much about ourselves. We were always going to have to play most of this by ear anyway."

Yellow nodded, weighing her sword in her hand. "Got it. We're sticking with you, Steven, and Amethyst as the intermediaries?"

"Yes, we're least recognizable as long as we keep our gems hidden."

"On it," Amethyst said, rifling through one of the abandoned boxes in a corner of the barn. It was full of miscellaneous human things, having been pushed out of the way since it didn't contain any useful parts for the ship or any other project. She pulled out a small piece of cloth, folded it in half to be a triangle, and tied it around her neck. "Disguise is a go, though I originally had something evencooler planned! You want anything, G?"

"No, it's alright. Let's go." She picked up Steven and put him on her shoulders. "Pearl, help the others get into disguises. Ideally, the Rubies won't have to see them, but if they do, we should avoid having them recognized."

Pearl nodded, already picking through the box to find more garments to use.

"Lapis," Garnet added, "thank you for your help. We'll take it from here."

"Sure." She shrugged and wandered over to the other end of the barn, where Peridot was crouching behind the ship. "…What are you worried about?"

"What am I _not_ worried about?" Peridot asked in a shrill whisper.

"They're not here for you, are they?" Lapis said.

"And Yellow Diamond probably considers you shattered already," Yellow added in an attempt to be helpful, "after ordering the communicator to be detonated."

"That's not reassuring!"

"Sure it is."

"Like you'd know!"

"I _do_ know. She thinks I'm shattered too."

"Well—Well, it still isn't," Peridot said stubbornly. "Anyway, what have you got over there to protect us from the wrath of our former Diamond?"

"Currently you have the choice of a hat or a headband," Pearl said dryly, donning a baseball cap to cover her own gem. "And you should probably wear a shirt to cover up that Diamond insignia."

"I have shirts already," she said. "But they wouldn't cover the diamond…"

"We can get into the specifics of Earth clothing another time," Pearl said, passing out t-shirts to Peridot, Blue, and Yellow quickly. "Put these on. Blue, Yellow, if you can shapeshift different hairstyles, this might be a good time to do so."

"Oh, okay!" Blue yanked the shirt over her head, patting it lightly where it covered her gem. "Um…like this?" She made her hair longer, bound in a ponytail which left her face boldly unobscured. "Is this different enough?"

"I think that'll do nicely."

Yellow concentrated too, searching her mind quickly for something to model it off of and settling on the shoulder-length curls that Sadie at the donut shop had. That was a drastic enough change from her usual short hair, she hoped.

Blue took one look at her and had to visibly keep herself from laughing.

"What?" Yellow asked impatiently.

"The top part still tries to flip up," she pointed out, one finger reaching up to play with it. "It's cute."

"I'll be sure to remember that when I'm facing down what's certain to be a five-Ruby fusion in mere moments."

"Shh, you don't know that'll happen."

"That's the whole reason they send them out in groups!"

"Well, I'm sure the seven or eight of us are more than a match for them. Now come on, let's see what's happening."

* * *

"Welcome to Earth!" Steven said a little too loudly as the last of five Rubies jumped out of the ship. Immediately, all eyes were on him. "So, uh, are you guys _aliens_?" he asked, trying not to seem too nervous.

One of the Rubies standing closest to him, gem on her stomach, was the first to reply. "We're gems," she said, smiling. "What a lovely planet."

"Glad you like it," Amethyst said, slinging an arm around the Ruby's shoulders. "Why don'tcha let us show you around then?"

"That sounds—"

"We don't have time for that!" Another Ruby, whose gem was placed in the center of her chest, spoke up. "We have a mission to complete."

"Oh, right, of course," the other Ruby laughed easily. "Mission first."

"Right," she said. "First, let's find the gem that the scanners found. Rubies, spread out and start searching!"

"Wait," Garnet said before any of them could even start moving.

There was a chorus of everything from "Okay!" to "Why are we waiting?" to "Who are you anyway?" all spoken at once.

"We're humans," Garnet said, voice calm and completely neutral. "We want to help you search."

"Because you're our guests!" Steven added quickly with a nervous smile.

"Yeah, we'll show you the best places to look for…what was it?" Amethyst asked.

"We've been sent to retrieve the Jasper assigned to the failed Earth mission," the Ruby with the eye gem said, looking them over suspiciously.

"A Jasper, huh?" Amethyst repeated. "Is that another gem? Y'know, I don't think I've seen any other people who look like you."

"Oh, Jasper's nothing like us," the chest gem Ruby said. "She's much bigger."

"Oh yeah?" Steven made a show of thinking about it. "Do you have a picture you could show us?"

"There's a picture on the ship," the navel gem Ruby volunteered.

"Wait a minute," the eye gem Ruby said before Steven and the others could follow her on board. "You can't just let these humans tag along."

"Why not?"

"Yeah, it's not like we can't take on a few humans if we need to," the Ruby with the gem on her arm said.

"I don't see why we shouldn't," the chest gem Ruby agreed. "Yellow Diamond will be pleased if we end up finding Jasper and bringing her back sooner than expected. Come on, Rubies, to the ship!"

* * *

"Why are they going on board?" Lapis asked curiously.

"They're going to try and slip fake scan results into the ship's computer to replace the real results and keep the Diamonds thinking the Cluster is still active, just slightly delayed," Pearl said. "I'm glad Peridot and I finished that up early."

"That's only half the problem here," Peridot said. "We still have to make them leave without finding Jasper!"

"Quite true." Pearl glanced over at Yellow's still-summoned sword. "If this does come down to a fight, go easy. If you lose your concentration, you'll lose your shifts, and you're too easily recognizable as Diamonds' Pearls even with your gems covered. _Don't_ risk giving them that information to take back to Homeworld unless you absolutely have to. It could be a very valuable asset to us later."

"Understood."

"Okay. I'll take point. Peridot, I want you to try and sneak up close enough to destabilize them while they're distracted."

"Got it," the three of them chorused.

"Good. Let's see how this goes."

* * *

Steven took the opportunity to try and name all the Rubies as they were taken on board the ship, unused to the similarities between gems of the same type but finding them different enough upon further inspection. There were little variances in their faces, in their uniforms, and of course in their gem placement. Army, Navy, Leggy, Eyeball, and…Doc. There, that would help him keep track of everyone. Eyeball was the one to look out for, the Pearls on Homeworld had told them, so he tried to watch her the most closely as they entered the ship.

"Whoa, it's bigger on the inside!"

The Rubies didn't really respond to Steven's exclamation, one of them already going over to a control panel to pull up a picture of Jasper on the display. "Here. Have you seen her?"

"Hmmm," Steven said. "I don't know, can you zoom in?"

"Sure."

"Hmmm," he said again, louder.

All the Rubies were watching him with baited breath. Garnet reached behind her back casually and pressed the data chip Pearl had passed off to her against another of the screens so the computer could read it. No one noticed.

"And how tall is she?" Steven continued.

"Like…uh…" Leggy reached up as high as she could, stretching up onto her tiptoes.

"Bigger than that," Eyeball scoffed. "The height of three or four of us together would be closer. Maybe even all _five_ of us."

"Ohh." Steven nodded. "Could you show me?"

"Sure! Rubies, assemble," Doc declared, directing them each to jump on top of each other one at a time and then clambering up to the top. "This tall!"

"Wow." Steven did his best not to giggle as the Ruby at the bottom accidentally made the tower wobble a little. "That _is_ big." He glanced over to Garnet, who gave him a covert thumbs up as she palmed the chip again. "What do you think, Ame…Amy? Have you seen anybody that tall?"

"Nope, don't think so," she said lazily, having made herself comfortable in the pilot's chair, much to the irritation of Doc when she noticed from her vantage point. "Maybe you guys got the wrong planet."

"Wrong _planet?_ " Doc leapt down. "Where else would she be?"

"I dunno, it's your mission. Maybe you should take this thing on a spin around the galaxy and see if you can find her, like, out by Neptune or something."

"Neptune?"

"Yeah, it's wayyyy more likely she'd be on Neptune," Steven said, jumping on board with the story. "It's, uh, a great tourist spot! And if she was stranded out here for a while like you said, I bet she went to go visit!"

"Hmm…"

"We never said anything about her being stranded."

"What?"

"We never said that." Eyeball fixed him with a menacing stare. "How did you know?"

"Uh…lucky guess?" he squeaked out.

"You _must_ know something!" Doc declared, sliding down the stack. "Where is she? Are you keeping her prisoner?"

"What? No way, we're just humans," Amethyst joked nervously.

"They're lying!"

"Yeah, we should fuse and—"

"No fusing inside the ship! Don't you remember what happened last time we did that?"

"…The ship looks okay."

"That's because it's a _new_ ship!"

"Yellow Diamond will be mad if we mess it up on a simple retrieval mission," Doc said. "Rubies, take the humans outside! We'll deal with them there!"

"Wait, wait, we'll go on our own," Steven protested as Army picked him up bodily and jogged toward the door.

"I've got this one!" Doc called, pulling Amethyst along. "Newbie, get the tall human."

Leggy obediently but apprehensively went over to Garnet. "Um…" She tugged at Garnet's arm.

She reached down to pat the Ruby on the head. "Aww, new to the squad?"

She nodded nervously.

"You'll be alright. Let's go then."

She looked more than a little relieved that it wasn't going to be a struggle, and she led Garnet off the ship after the others.

As soon as they were back outside though, she was called away with an abrupt "Rubies, assemble!" and had to run to join the slightly less precarious stack already being formed by the others.

In an instant, before the light of their bodies had even managed to coalesce into a fusion, Garnet summoned her gauntlets and Amethyst's whip was close behind. Garnet placed a hand on Steven's shirt to keep him from summoning his shield instinctively as well. "Get back to the barn, Steven."

And that was their cue then. Pearl was first out to the fray, spear pulled from her gem as she ran, with Blue and Yellow close behind. She protected Steven as he ran back towards the barn and then continued forward in a rush once she saw he was safely inside with Lapis.

Yellow gripped her newly summoned sword tight and willed it to be the perfectly suited weapon it was meant to be, even without a twin. Blue's spear was ready, glinting in the light, and they exchanged the briefest of glances before splitting up to divide the fused Ruby's attention even further.

Yellow went right, Blue went left, and Ruby fusion grabbed for both of them. Yellow dived to the ground and then rolled back to her feet, jumping up to grab onto the Ruby's arm. She nearly got thrown off but clawed onto the back of the fusion's uniform instead, hooking her sword on for extra support. She hauled herself up and grabbed on more securely, unable to keep from grinning as Blue ran around in front, taunting the fusion by running in and out of reach and using her spear to slash at the Ruby's hands when they tried to knock her off her feet. Yellow deftly avoided the attempts to get her off the fusion's back as well, slashing the sword into her with every spare second. She wasn't going to win a fight this way, but that wasn't the point—she just needed to be an annoyance.

Amethyst used her whip to hook the fusion's arm before it could reach to her face—presumably to pull out some weapon of her own—and Garnet took hold of it a second later to send a large shock of electricity to the end of the tightly coiled weapon. Blue went for the other arm, landing several hits with her spear and punctuating the final one with a dagger straight through the wrist as she came away.

"We need to end this fast," Garnet said, leaning down to speak to Blue in a low voice. "The longer it goes on, the more likely Homeworld learns about us and the more likely Earth becomes a target."

"Understood," Blue said with a quick smile. "Yellow!" she shouted up to the other Pearl. "You ready?"

"Ready!"

"We'll bring her down. Tell Peridot to have the destabilizer ready, please."

"You got it," Amethyst said. "G, cover me."

Garnet nodded, and the three of them took off in different directions. Blue didn't go far, weaving in and out before planting herself just in front of the Ruby.

"Now!"

When they'd practiced this, Yellow had had two swords for maximum impact, but she'd have to make do with one. She vaulted up over the Ruby's shoulder, coming down right in front of Blue and pinpointing her landing to fall directly onto the middle of Blue's spear, which was held up and braced with both hands in the split second before Yellow made contact. She pushed back off as soon as she felt Blue's additional shove helping turn her momentum around and was launched up at the fusion. In an instant, her hand flashed up to her gem, all instinct and no forethought, to pull out a second weapon to match her first. Her swords slashed heavy across the Ruby's chest, between the two gems on her front, and made her reel back. Blue took the opportunity to unbalance her further by going for one of her legs as well, and the fusion slammed to the ground just as they'd hoped.

Without any pause, Peridot and Amethyst were there, the technician rushing forward to stab the destabilizer into the fusion's neck as hard as she could. Electricity sparked and the fusion split apart, white lines of light appearing before the five Rubies came tumbling apart. Not poofed but definitely dazed, which was good. They'd found the optimal setting for the destabilizer after a rather long discussion as to what would be strong enough to bring a fusion down without dissipating everyone in it. Poofing and bubbling might be an option, but it wasn't their first—more missing gems would only get Earth more attention.

"Run," Yellow hissed when Peridot didn't make an immediate move to leave, seeming rather stunned by what she'd just managed to pull off.

"Oh, right!" She took off once again towards the barn, and Yellow hoped the Rubies would simply believe that they'd lost the focus required for the fusion when they fell. Or even that it was just a strange Earth phenomenon. Any excuse would do, as long as they didn't start thinking the "humans" they were fighting were actually gems.

The Rubies didn't seem to be thinking about it much once they were back on their feet, thankfully. With the five of them separate again, Yellow and Blue did their best to split up the group and keep them away from each other. Garnet had taken on the chest gem Ruby, since she seemed the leader, Blue was keeping the arm gem one at a distance with her sword's reach, and Yellow had somehow ended up with the suddenly rather intense eye gem Ruby who had _pulled a chisel on her_ nearly as soon as she'd recovered from the fusion breaking apart. Nasty weapon, though Yellow didn't let herself dwell on it. The Ruby couldn't even see her gem, so there was no real danger beyond a lucky hit and, well, she wouldn't let that happen.

Her new sword was light and quick and everything she could have hoped for from her summoned weapon. She was almost certain she wasn't using it to its fullest extent, which was frustrating but also oddly thrilling. She was already good with the sword, and soon she'd be even better.

This was taking too long though, and she didn't think the Rubies were going to be persuaded at this point to give up on their mission entirely, even with a defeat. They needed a way out without exposing the Crystal Gems or the Pearl rebellion, and she didn't know how to make one.

She managed to disarm the Ruby and went in for another blow, only to have her attention drawn by a sudden shout of "Wait!"

Yellow and the Ruby both turned their heads in surprise to see…

Amethyst shapeshifted into Jasper? _What?_

There was no way that would ever work. Why would she even think to _attempt_ it? Amethyst wasn't orange, she now had two visible gems, and even if she somehow managed to pass visual inspection, she acted nothing like Jasper.

"Hey, I'm right here!" she said loudly.

There was a moment of dead silence, in which Pearl looked like she wanted to bang her head against a wall and Blue and Yellow tried to prepare for the inevitable return to fighting, but it didn't happen. Instead, there were just multiple cries of "Look, it's Jasper!"

They _believed_ this?

The Ruby that Yellow had been fighting was suddenly in front of Amethyst babbling about how proud she was to be in Jasper's presence and how great she'd been in the war for Earth and _oh stars_ , how was this working?

"They really can't tell the difference?" Yellow muttered to Blue when the other Pearl came to stand beside her, spear still out but relaxed at her side.

"This might be easier than we thought," Blue replied, trying not to laugh.

There was one awful moment when one of the Rubies spoke up to mention Amethyst's coloring, but it was waved off easily.

"You must mean my tan. You know, from the sun."

Alright, Yellow would freely admit that she didn't think Rubies the most intelligent of gems, but this just seemed impossibly easy.

"Yellow Diamond is awaiting your return," one said eagerly, looking up at the large Quartz. "We'll take you back to Homeworld."

Then again, maybe this just landed them with new problems.

 _Stall them_ , Pearl mouthed covertly to a suddenly panicking Amethyst.

"Oh, yeah, of course," she said. "It's just that I have to, uh, locate our informant. She took off when the ship crashed and I haven't been able to find her."

"The Lapis Lazuli? Yellow Diamond said she was of no importance now."

"Ah." Amethyst quickly searched for another excuse. "Well, I also have to find that Peridot I came here with."

"The Peridot's still here? The file said she'd been destroyed."

"Oh, yeah, _nearly_ , but she escaped! Yep! Totally escaped, and I need to find her to avenge Yellow Diamond's honor!"

"Her honor?"

"Didn't you hear what she _said?_ " Amethyst asked, leaning down a little and clearly beginning to enjoy her role. "What she called our Diamond?"

"No," the Rubies answered in hushed voices.

"Well, sit down and I'll tell you the whole story…"

"She's _good_ ," Blue giggled quietly, letting her spear dissolve into light.

"She is," Pearl agreed, "but we need to figure out how to get her away from them now. There's no holding that form forever, and either way we can't have them taking her back to Homeworld. Come on." She beckoned for the two of them to follow her back over to the barn discreetly.

Once inside, Pearl began pacing nervously.

"We didn't plan for this."

"For what?" Peridot asked, Steven close behind her.

" _That_ ," Yellow said, pointing back over her shoulder.

"Oh my stars, what is she _doing?_ They're going to kidnap her now!"

"Actually, they'll probably treat her like an esteemed superior until she has to let go of the shapeshifting," Yellow said calmly. "It's the _after_ that we need to be concerned about."

"If she'd been to Homeworld before, I'd consider letting her go with them and meet up with us later," Pearl fretted. "But she _hasn't_ and it's far too dangerous..."

"How long can she keep shapeshifting?" Steven asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure, but with such a sizeable change…perhaps an hour or so? The intricacies of shapeshifting anything beyond clothes tend to elude me," Pearl admitted.

"It does?" Yellow was mildly surprised by this fact, but now that she thought about it, Pearl _hadn't_ ever shapeshifted around them.

"I'm capable of it, it just doesn't come easily," she explained.

"We could create a distraction of some kind?" Peridot suggested, looking around the barn. "I'm sure we can rig something up."

"But now that they've seen her, we won't be able to convince them to leave without her," Yellow pointed out. "They're not going to go back to Yellow Diamond with a 'we almost retrieved her' report, that's suicide."

"Maybe they wouldn't have to," Blue said slowly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she said, slow smile spreading across her lips, "we have the real Jasper. Why not just give her back?"


	26. Chapter 26

"Give her back?" Pearl asked incredulously. "You trust her?"

"She'd turn us all in!" Peridot exclaimed. "I mean, I know she's not as hostile as she was initially, but that's hardly a ringing endorsement for shipping her straight back to Yellow Diamond."

"No," Blue answered. "I don't trust _her_ necessarily, but I trust that she has very little to gain by telling Yellow Diamond everything that's happened here."

"She has _loads_ to gain," she protested, looking to Garnet who had just come in to join them. "She could turn in Rose Quartz—Steven—and do you have any idea what the Diamonds would try to do to him? How happy Yellow Diamond would be to see the gem that shattered Pink Diamond brought to justice?"

"Yellow Diamond," Blue said carefully, "is happiest thinking that's already taken care of. She doesn't need a reminder of how much she hates Earth."

"And," Yellow added, beginning to understand where Blue was headed with this, "she likes Jasper best as a showpiece, a gem she can have in court from time to time so everyone recalls the stories of one of Homeworld's greatest Quartz soldiers. She's already given her as many niceties as she's willing to offer someone from a place like this, and I suspect that if her presence became some sort of inconvenient reminder of their failure…well, she'd much rather ship her off to a remote outpost somewhere."

"Inconvenient?" Peridot asked. "But—"

"To be perfectly blunt, what you never understood about the Diamonds is that they want you to reaffirm what they've already decided is best, not come up with your own solutions. And this isn't even a solution, just a problem."

"…Fair enough."

"Exactly," Blue agreed. "The first thing she'd ask after finding out about Steven or the Crystal Gems or even just me and Yellow would be 'Why didn't you handle the situation already?' Jasper has a reputation as a war hero, and admitting that she couldn't get the better of a few rebels or at the very least call in for immediate backup…it would be a blow to that reputation."

"And if that's all Yellow Diamond wants her for, then she's just screwing herself over by saying anything," Yellow finished.

"If Yellow Diamond is that mean to her, then we can't send her back!" Steven protested, finally speaking up. "And—"

"You can't trust her," Lapis interrupted. "And you shouldn't keep her around here either. You should bubble her, or whatever it is you do."

"Steven wanted to give her a chance," Garnet said calmly. "She's of no danger to anyone within that field. It's outside of it that I'm less confident about the outcome, but even then, most seem surprisingly positive."

" _How?_ "

"Because of Steven." She placed a hand in his curls. "Jasper may not like Earth or the Crystal Gems, but she does like Steven."

"And I trust her," Steven added quickly. "But I don't want to make her go. I think she can learn to like it here, like all of you!"

"Not all gems are willing to make that change, Steven," Pearl said quietly. "We can't rely on that hope, much as I'm glad you have it."

"The important part is that you made friends with her," Blue said. "She understands you're not the same Rose Quartz that killed Pink Diamond now and you've been talking and, I don't know, doing some Earth-made Quartz bonding that I don't fully understand, but it _has_ gotten through to her a little bit. At the very least, I don't think she'd turn you in to the Diamonds when she knows you didn't do anything."

"What about the rest of you? The other Pearls?"

She shrugged. "If they're already suspicious of the existence of a few rogue Pearls, one more detail isn't going to make a big difference. I don't _want_ them to know we're alive, of course, but I suppose they do have to find out sooner or later anyway."

"And all things considered, they're unlikely to take it very seriously," Pearl admitted. "They wouldn't see a handful of Pearls as a viable threat—which of course we'll use to our advantage, but the point still stands."

"And with the fake information in their Cluster report, the Diamonds are unlikely to be concerned about taking down them or the surviving Crystal Gems; they'll think we're history," Garnet added. "Without Rose Quartz in the picture, there wouldn't be any real drive for more _personal_ revenge."

"It's still dangerous though," Pearl pointed out. "We haven't given her enough information to truly be damaging, yes, but there's a lot of variables and your future vision isn't a guarantee that…"

"I know. But I think it's a risk I'm willing to take." Garnet adjusted her visor. "Any objections?"

"…No. Better to choose the peaceful solution now and keep Earth safe. That's what Rose would have done."

"Peridot?"

"It's not ideal, but if you can talk Jasper into it… You're right, it's about protecting Earth."

"You've come a long way," Garnet said with a smile. "Yellow?"

"I'm with Blue on this one. Let's try it."

Garnet nodded. "Lapis?"

Lapis looked surprised to be asked, but her expression quickly settled back into neutral. "I think you're all a bit cracked, but it might be good to have a few galaxies in between us."

"It will be," she said gently. "Steven? Your call."

"I…" He bit his lip. "I know it's important not to let Mom down, but I don't want to let Jasper down either. Isn't Yellow Diamond going to be mad at her for taking so long on her mission and everything?"

"Irritated, maybe," Yellow said honestly. "But you have to remember that your way of measuring time…it's not that we necessarily experience it differently, but it doesn't feel as long when you've been around for hundreds or thousands of years. I mean, it's only just recently that Yellow Diamond really noticed her absence and sent a ship to come get her."

"I see what you mean." Steven hesitated. "But she won't get hurt?"

"I mean, I can't _guarantee_ anything, but no, I don't think so. Yellow Diamond may have a temper, but she doesn't snap at every little infraction either. Being late isn't really that bad, all things considered."

"Okay," he said slowly. "Then…yeah. Let's ask her if she wants to. I guess it would be kind of mean for us to just leave her out on the beach forever while we try to change her mind. I want her to actually have a choice."

"You have to choose your freedom," Blue said softly.

Steven nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

"I would hope after all that training, you can handle one ship," Jasper said as they approached. "Because I'm not fighting for you."

"We don't need you to," Pearl said calmly, walking straight up to the destabilizing field with Blue and Yellow close behind her. "Actually, we were hoping we might come to an agreement with you."

"Like what?" she asked warily.

"Well," she continued, "to keep it short, in exchange for your silence, we'll allow you to return to Homeworld with the rescue team that was sent for you."

"Why?"

"We'd prefer to keep Earth out of Homeworld's line of fire and not draw attention to ourselves by interfering too much with the Rubies' mission."

"This planet's already doomed," Jasper countered. "I'm not sure what difference it makes."

"The Cluster is a more manageable threat than the Diamonds themselves," Pearl said, deftly avoiding giving Jasper any hint that it had already been managed. "I'm sure you can understand that."

"Sure. But you're not going to win any wars by letting prisoners go free and giving them a chance to relay information to their own side."

"We're not in a war," Blue pointed out. "We'd like to keep it that way."

"And, really, I don't you've discovered anything worth telling her," Yellow added, "unless you want to get dissipated or worse for failing to take care of the problem yourself. We both know she's never had a whole lot of patience with you."

Jasper looked reluctant to admit it, but she didn't offer an argument either.

"So do we have a deal?"

"…You're banking on the fact that I'm getting along with Steven, aren't you? Why didn't you bring him along as your trump card?"

"Because Steven's a person, not a tool for us to use," Pearl answered evenly. "Besides, in my experience, Quartz loyalty doesn't falter just because of a little distance."

Jasper looked at her for a long moment. "I won't turn him in," she said finally. "But you can't expect me to go out of my way to protect the rest of you. You're still traitors."

"You don't have to go out of your way," Blue said. "You can just pretend you never saw us."

"And what if I don't pretend?"

She shrugged. "You're not going to do it then?"

"I don't know, I'm still trying to figure out why you're making this offer in the first place. It's ridiculous."

"Maybe Earth's ridiculous," Yellow replied calmly. "Like you've been saying this whole time. But not everywhere has to be like Homeworld."

"We can't force you to change," Pearl said. "Just as you can't force us. So perhaps it's best that we part ways here."

Jasper nodded, eyes unreadable.

"Steven sees good in you," she continued. "And I don't doubt that it exists, but keeping you here against your will isn't going to bring it out. Certainly not after the past few months with Lapis Lazuli."

"Steven sees what he wants to see," Jasper muttered. "And what does she think of all this?"

"Lapis? This doesn't involve her and, quite frankly, there are a multitude of reasons you haven't seen her during your stay here."

"She doesn't want to see me then? Figures."

"It isn't about _want to_ , I don't think," Blue said carefully. "It's about _need to._ "

Jasper shrugged.

"So?" Yellow asked. "Is this a yes or a no to the deal? We have a time limit here."

"What happens if I say no?"

"Then nothing changes for you," Pearl said. "Although if anything happens to Earth and we aren't around to stop it or let you escape…"

"I'm prepared to shatter for my Diamond."

"Yellow or Pink?" Blue asked quietly. "And don't say it doesn't make a difference, because it does."

"I'm loyal to the court I'm in."

"No doubt," Yellow said calmly. "But even Yellow Diamond knows that, given the choice, you wouldn't be there."

"Fine," Jasper snapped. "I wouldn't. But I don't have a choice thanks to your Crystal Gems, do I?"

"You have a choice, it's just not the one you wanted. But I think it's rather beneath you," she continued, narrowing her eyes in challenge, "to ignore the other options just to shatter _nobly_ for either a gem who isn't around to see it or another that could care less. For once in your life, stop trying to please somebody who thinks she owns you just because she showed a little false, manipulative pity to you after the war. She's not worth it."

"She's a _Diamond._ "

"But not yours. We both know that."

Jasper held Yellow's gaze for a long moment. "I'm not part of your rebellion. I won't affiliate myself with the Crystal Gems under any circumstances, so don't start thinking I'll help you out. Once I'm back, I never want to get involved with this again."

Blue smiled. "So you'll go?"

"Yes. And fine, I won't tell Yellow Diamond more than she needs to know. I won't mention Steven, because he's not part of this. But if it comes down to it, I'm not putting my ass on the line for you lot. If withholding information is going to go badly for me, then I won't."

"Understood," Pearl said, nodding seriously. "We have a deal?"

"Deal."

"If you renege on that promise about keeping Steven out of it..."

"I hear you, Renegade."

"Good. Then we're decided." She deactivated the destabilizing field smoothly. "Follow us."

* * *

When they slipped back in through the side of the barn, the Rubies were still piled around Amethyst, watching with awe as she showed off her shapeshifted muscles. She looked immensely relieved when she caught sight of Pearl waving to her and made a smooth exit, saying something about needing to check on a few things in the barn before she left and walked over to join them.

As soon as the door was closed and she was out of their line of sight, she dropped the shift. "Whew," she sighed. "Okay, what's the—oh, hey, Jasper."

Jasper looked her over once and didn't say anything, clearly offended by either the shapeshifting or her unusual stature, or quite possibly both.

"We're going to switch you two out," Pearl said. "Amethyst, is there anything you said that they might bring up with Jasper?"

"Nah, not much. I said that I set up fighting you guys as a test, secretly planned it with YD or whatever. They don't ask too many questions once you start showing off though," she said with a grin. "Just flex at 'em."

"That's what I usually end up doing," Jasper muttered.

Amethyst laughed. "See, she knows." Then, growing serious, she gave Jasper a punch in the side. "If you do anything to hurt Steven, you know what happens, right?"

"Yes, yes, your Pearls made that abundantly clear, can we move on?"

"They're not _my_ Pearls but sure. Can't keep 'em waiting too long. Go for it."

Jasper did, making her way to the door. But before she could get there, Lapis slipped down from the rafters gracefully and landed nearby, Peridot hurrying over to join her with a worried expression on her face.

"Jasper."

Their eyes met for one long moment, something Blue couldn't understand passing between them. Hate? Defiance? Curiosity?

Whatever it was, she could tell it was an ending. Malachite—along with any other intricacies that existed between her two components—was not going to come back.

They turned away from each other again, and Lapis took off into the sky—but not off planet, it seemed, and Steven looked relieved. Jasper just went to the door to join the Rubies.

She cleared her throat, gathering herself after the unsettling encounter, before calling out to them. "Hey," she said, getting their attention. "I'm all set, let's go."

"Okay, Jasper!" There was no hesitation there, and the Crystal Gems all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wait, what happened to your tan?" Navy asked, eyes wide.

"Uh…" Jasper looked completely lost. "It comes and goes?"

"Earth's so silly," she laughed.

"That's for sure. Which one of you is flying this ship?"

"I am!" Doc said quickly. "But if you'd like to take the captain's seat, then please go ahead. It would be an honor."

"No, I'll leave that to you."

"Yes, Jasper!"

The Rubies hurried off into the ship, and Jasper glanced back over her shoulder.

Steven waved quickly, smiling encouragingly as their eyes met. "See you later!"

Jasper shook her head like she was fed up with the constant sentimentality, but she lifted a hand to wave back all the same. "Goodbye, Steven."

More final than what he wanted, but he accepted it all the same.

Blue couldn't get a read on which of their parting words were more accurate, but she leaned toward _see you later_ when she saw the hint of a toothy smile on Jasper's face before she turned away.


	27. Chapter 27

Everything else felt oddly calm compared to having to handle five Rubies and Jasper and all of that. Once the day drew to a close, Yellow and Blue camped out in Steven's living room for the night to give Peridot and Lapis enough space to talk or not talk after the emotionally charged day.

With the lights turned off so Steven could sleep, Yellow picked up a tablet, turned the brightness down, and browsed the internet aimlessly as Blue leaned her head against her shoulder and closed her eyes. She was full of anxious anticipation, knowing they'd be setting off for Homeworld soon, but Blue's presence settled her nerves for the most part.

As the night dragged on, Blue reached over and turned the screen off, leaving them in the dark, and laughed as she got a quietly annoyed "What?" in response.

"Nothing," she whispered. "It's just hard to hold hands when you're doing that."

"You could have just said so," Yellow replied, no real irritation in her voice. She set the tablet aside and fumbled to find Blue's hand, curling her fingers securely around it.

"I know." Blue was smiling, she could tell. "Can I say something else?"

"Sure."

"Thanks for sticking with me this whole time." She used her free arm to give Yellow a sideways hug. "I'm glad you're here."

"…Me too," Yellow said softly.

"And I know we'll get to Homeworld safely, with all the work you've put into the ship."

"Awful patched-together escape pod that it is," she agreed with a faint smile.

"Hey, don't call it awful, it's our grand escape vessel," Blue protested, giggling.

"Tell yourself that all you like. I'm sure some of the other Pearls will appreciate your exaggerations."

"I won't need to exaggerate to make you sound cool."

"Thanks," she said, rolling her eyes despite the blush creeping up on her skin.

"Are you nervous about going back?" Blue asked, growing serious.

Yellow shrugged. "A bit, I guess. You?"

"A bit," she agreed softly. "I've gotten to like it here."

"You _always_ liked it here."

"As a home instead of as a…a legacy, I suppose. More the gems than the place, but still." She smiled a little. "I'm glad the others are coming along with us for a while."

"You say that like you _aren't_ going to instantly get along with everyone else there."

"Hey!" she laughed. "Nobody's _that_ good."

"Fair enough." Yellow tentatively placed her hand on Blue's head, her hair soft under her fingertips. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah." She leaned into her touch. "Yellow?"

"Hm?"

"I really am happy we're doing this together. All of this."

"Yeah," she murmured. "Me too."

Blue's hand pressed warm beside her gem, and Yellow closed her eyes and let herself drift into something like sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Blue and Yellow made their way over to the barn to try and contact the rebellion once more to set up their final plans. Pearl was already there when they arrived, double checking the equipment, and she looked pleased to see them.

"Good morning! Yellow, would you turn that transmitter on so I can check… Yes, thank you, that's perfect." She stood and dusted herself off. "I thought I'd join you, if that's alright. There are some things I want to ask about supplies and such."

"Of course," Blue agreed happily. "I'm sure they'd love to see you again."

It didn't take long for the three of them to crowd around the screen again to make the call, waiting for the other side to pick up. It only took a few seconds this time.

Yellow, sitting in the middle, did her best to begin with a friendly "Hello" as soon as the screen flickered to life.

"Oh." The Pearl who answered was unfamiliar, pink in color with hair that fell just past her chin. Small tufts of bangs swept in on either side of her forehead, almost reminiscent of Pearl's, while the longer ends of her hair curled in towards the gem nestled directly in the center of her neck. Her eyes were sharp as she looked Yellow over, clearly displeased, and she hardly even noticed the Pearls on either side of her. "It's you."

Yellow bristled instinctively, her mind racing to figure out when she'd encountered this Pearl and how she'd offended her—well, the last part wouldn't be hard to figure out, considering how she'd never made much of an effort to befriend anyone prior to meeting Blue, but still. That amount of disdain surely meant she'd shown particular impatience or unkindness to the other gem.

"Anyway," she continued, sparing her no more attention and instead turning slightly to address Pearl. "Hello."

"Hello," she answered uncertainly.

"How can I help you two?"

"Um…you mean three?" Blue asked, tilting her head as she took in the Pearl and tried to place her within thousands of years of memories.

"I meant two."

"Well!" Yellow said indignantly.

The pink Pearl opened up her mouth to speak again, only to be interrupted by a rather sudden entrance by Crimson from the right of the screen. "Thanks, Millie, I'll take it from here," she said hastily, gently but firmly pulling her out of her seat.

"But—"

"You know, I think Silver was asking for you; she's in the common room."

"Really? Okay." She stood quickly, her demeanor shifting all of a sudden as she smiled, ran her hands through her hair, and hurried off with a delighted expression. "Oh, and the Renegade says hello!" she called over her shoulder.

"What— _Millie!_ " Crimson turned to get a better look at the screen and her face immediately gained a few shades of red. "I'm so, so sorry."

"It's alright."

"No, I'll talk to her later, I swear. Please don't take it personally."

Yellow wasn't sure how _not_ to take it personally, but she figured it would be best just to move on. "Thanks."

Crimson paused. "And it's such an honor to meet you, um…just Pearl, right?"

"That's right," she confirmed, smiling. "And you're Crimson?"

"Yeah." She stared for a moment and then shook her head, clearing her throat. "Sorry, I spent most of my life assuming it would be impossible to meet you in person. And you're more colorful than I expected."

Pearl made a valiant, if failed, effort not to laugh.

"I mean, with the projections, it's…" Crimson looked increasingly self-conscious. "Never mind, I'll stop embarrassing myself now."

"No, it's fine, no need to apologize," she said quickly.

"You should have seen me when I first met her," Blue added conspiratorially.

Pearl nodded, a kind smile on her face as she placed a hand on Blue's shoulder briefly. "Anyway, I hope we can be friends as well."

Crimson nodded, looking almost startled by the offer. "Me too."

"Anyway," she continued, sparing her from any more introductory small talk, "we wanted to let you know everything's gone well here, so we should be on our way there very soon."

"That's great," Crimson said warmly. "You called to figure out arrival plans then? Just a sec." She picked up a nearby tablet and tapped a couple times to get to what she was looking for. "When exactly do you think you'll be getting here? We'll need to make sure somebody can meet up with you and show you the way here."

"Well, barring any abnormalities, we should get there within a couple days," Pearl said. "We'll set out tomorrow, once we make sure we have all the provisions we need."

"What's the safest way to go about things?" Yellow asked.

"We've been talking about it and I _think_ it's probably safest to have you land in Facet Ten. It's adjacent to where we are, and there's enough upper-class gems with their own private ships so that it won't seem strange to have something land there. I went to scope out a good spot, and I think this one's your best bet." Crimson held up the screen to show them a map and a set of coordinates. "Obviously it'll be best for you to stay inside until someone can get you regardless. I'll have one of the Diamonds' Pearls come pick you up; they'll be least suspicious."

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed. "So we should just let you know when we arrive?"

Crimson nodded. "If you just open a link to this comm line briefly, that'll be enough. I'll make sure someone's here to receive it and pass along the information."

"Got it."

"Okay. And I wanted to ask—oh, hold on just a moment," she broke off, looking over to the side. "Hi, Sil."

" _Hey._ " Silver slid rather enthusiastically into the seat beside her. " _I wanted to see what I was distracting Millie from. Hi again!_ " She grinned at the three Pearls on the screen, who waved back.

"Sorry about that," Crimson laughed. "It seemed like the quickest way to get her out of here. What did you ask her to do?"

" _Help organize the weapons closet and let me bounce ideas off her for tomorrow's training."_ She shrugged. " _And then I managed to get hold of Ory and tell her to tell Chroma to have her deliver a message to me saying she needed me to help with repairs or something. I think it worked._ "

"Probably so," she agreed, amused smile playing on her lips as she turned her attention back to the screen. "Anyway, I was just about to see what arrangements we need to make for rooms. How many of you will be coming?"

"Six total," Blue answered. "The three of us, Steven, Garnet, and Amethyst."

" _Six_ ," Silver repeated, drumming her fingers lightly on the table as she thought.

"Though Steven is the only one who absolutely needs a room to rest in," Pearl added. "So if space is an issue, the rest of us are willing to make do with less."

"Oh, no, don't worry about that. I mean, we _are_ starting to run out of space in the living quarters, but there's still enough rooms that aren't spoken for. We just might have to pair you up."

" _Yeah, we've got like four rooms open at the moment_ ," Silver said. " _Or if you want to have separate rooms, there's some empty ones on the other side of the building—storage space that's not being used yet, but we can spruce it up._ "

"Sharing is fine," Pearl said with a smile. "You can place us wherever is convenient for you though. We don't need any special treatment."

" _Sure, thanks._ "

"And we were able to pull together a few supplies for you," Yellow added. "We have enough room on the ship to bring some bits and pieces from Earth that might help out somehow too."

"That's great." Crimson looked relieved. "It'll be a big help, thank you."

"There was one more thing I wanted to discuss in that regard actually," Pearl said.

"Oh, certainly. What's that?"

"Well, I'm not sure how much you know about the rebellion here on Earth…"

" _Not a whole lot, sadly_ ," Silver said. " _Just the projection stuff and a few tidbits from what Pearls have overheard._ "

"Right." She paused. "Well, Rose Quartz possessed the power to heal with her tears, and that was a truly invaluable resource to us during the rebellion. Steven inherited the ability as well, so of course he'd be happy to provide help on a more immediate basis, but we also had a rather large supply of healing tears bequeathed to us. If you'd like, we could bring you a portion of that."

" _Healing tears?_ "

"For anything from scrapes to cracked gems," Pearl confirmed with a small nod.

"You can heal cracked gems?" Crimson asked, amazed. "Yes, stars yes, that would be wonderful. Even just a little bit would help—we have gems right now who could use it."

"Then we'll bring as much as we can."

"Thank you. You have no idea how much that'll—I mean, I'm sure you do," she said with a faint smile. "I just never expected anything like this."

"We're happy to help. Though you seem to be handling things just fine there already, from what you've all told us."

Crimson dipped her head slightly in acknowledgment. "Thanks, but I don't have much experience. Once you get here—"

"No," Pearl interrupted. "Please don't feel obligated to make that offer. You're welcome to make use of my skills wherever you see fit—engineering, strategy, swordsmanship—but whatever my history, this rebellion needs someone who understands the current workings of Homeworld and its Pearls. That's not me."

A small blush rose to Crimson's face again. "I'll do my best then. I hope it's alright if I come to you for advice on occasion."

"Anytime."

"Thanks." She paused. "I think that was everything we needed to plan out. Unless there's anything else we need to prepare for you?"

"No, I think that's everything," Pearl said. "Thank you."

"I look forward to seeing all of you in person then," Crimson said warmly.

"Us too," Blue said earnestly.

" _See you soon!_ "

* * *

The next morning, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst loaded the last few things onto the ship and made sure everything was prepared while Blue, Yellow, and Steven made the rounds so he could say goodbye to everyone. Greg was, although a little reluctant to let him go, proud of the part he wanted to play in helping the gems on Homeworld. Steven promised they'd be careful and he'd come back to see him as soon as they had the warp pad to Earth up and running.

After Greg, they went to see Connie, who was promised a trip to Homeworld once they knew it was safe enough. She gave Steven a big hug and promised to protect the planet in his absence, as well as check in with Peridot and Lapis from time to time to make sure they were doing okay and call Steven via the communications array they already had set up in the barn.

After one last goodbye to Connie—and Steven's reassurance that she should keep Rose's sword while he was away—they searched out all his friends from town. They generally got a vaguer explanation of "going on a trip with the gems" but they gave him fond goodbyes all the same and wished him well.

Two hours later, when they had checked, double checked, and triple checked that everyone and everything was prepared, they boarded the ship.

"You're all set," Peridot declared after running an extra set of diagnostics on the ship itself. She looked rather antsy. "You should call as soon as you arrive, alright?"

"We will," Garnet reassured her.

"We'll be fine!" Steven said, giving Peridot a hug. "We'll call every night!"

"You don't need to do _that_ ," she muttered, embarrassed. "Anyway, I'll keep an eye on things here and make sure Lapis is okay and everything."

"Okay!"

Lapis had already said goodbye to Steven earlier in the day and then vanished, probably off flying again. She seemed to want to keep her distance from anything else involving Homeworld at the moment, and it was understandable.

"Alright, time to give Peri all her hugs!" Amethyst announced.

"You already _gave_ me all the hugs," she protested, but she was quickly surrounded by the whole group at once and squished between Garnet and Amethyst.

"There was a leftover." Amethyst patted the top point of her hair. "See ya round. Have fun, take care of the planet, don't let Lapis steal the ocean again, and all that jazz."

"I'll be a responsible roommate," Peridot declared with a nod. "And perform all Crystal Gem duties as requested."

"You've got this." Garnet squeezed her shoulder lightly. "Time for us to head out then. Steven, ready to go?"

"I'm ready!" He waved as Peridot walked back outside.

Pearl was acting as pilot this time around, which gave Yellow the freedom to run any mid-flight maintenance that might be required. But right now, it also gave her a chance to actually appreciate the beginning of the journey—as Blue clearly was already, even without having taken off.

"Ready?" Pearl checked, after looking over the controls one last time.

"Ready." Blue smiled, hands curling tight around the back of the chair as Pearl started the engines. "Yellow?"

"I'm ready."

Similar assurances came from the rest of the gems as well, and soon Earth was behind them.

With none of last time's initial rush and panic, space greeted them almost peacefully. Yellow found herself entranced by the view and then, when she caught a glimpse of Blue's radiant happiness, entranced by that as well. This was the start of everything Blue had wanted, all those years, and Yellow felt honored that she got to not only witness it but be a part of it as well.

"I love you." For a moment, Yellow thought shehad said it herself, but no, Blue was looking at her and her lips were moving and she said it again. "I love you. Not because of this or because of the rebellion—I just love you. Is that okay?"

Such a solid, decisive statement followed by _is that okay._ There were still odd remnants of that Pearl-like uncertainty inside her, weren't there? Yellow reached out and took Blue's hand and tugged her forward, gem warm with happiness. "That's okay." It sounded almost silly, but it was true nonetheless. "I love you too."

Blue nodded, eyes bright.

"Kiss me?" Yellow breathed.

Her smile grew ever brighter on her lips and she squeezed Yellow's hand tighter. "Oh, you beat me to asking," she said happily. "I'd love to."

Blue's kiss was gentle and unpracticed and sweet. Her free hand came up to hold onto Yellow with care, to bring her still closer, and Yellow was overwhelmed by it all.

It wasn't "I love you" because of the rebellion, it was "I love you" _with_ the rebellion, with that indomitable attitude that made Blue so fiercely certain that Pearls—that the two of them—could accomplish something. And they would, Yellow knew. They already had.

Wherever they went from here, they would have "I love you" and these kisses that spiraled into happy, breathless laughter that was warm on their cheeks and this togetherness that Yellow hadn't ever expected to feel when she first encountered Blue in Homeworld's cold and stifling courts. And maybe it should have felt rebellious for Pearls to have any of those things but really, she thought, it just felt natural.


	28. Chapter 28

It didn't take long for them to arrive on Homeworld. All the upgrades they'd given the ship helped immensely in decreasing the time it took to travel the lengthy distance, and thankfully there were very few repairs that needed to be done in-flight. It was a sturdy little pod, or at least sturdy enough for this one journey.

On the way there, Garnet had unfused, pointing out that—at least while they were moving around out in the open—it was safer and less conspicuous to have a Ruby and a Sapphire instead of an obvious fusion. Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl all greeted the two of them with delight, and Blue and Yellow were "introduced" to them and received a warm reception soon after.

The seven of them spent most of the trip talking and occasionally playing card games with the deck Steven had brought along, and it went by quickly. Pearl soon announced their landing and set them down with impressive smoothness at the coordinates Crimson had given them.

After a few tense minutes, staying alert for any sign from outside that they'd been noticed, Pearl sent out a quick signal to the rebellion's base to let them know they'd landed. Now all they had to do was wait.

* * *

There was a sharp rapping on the door of their ship only a couple minutes later, and everyone was immediately on alert. Ruby, Amethyst, and Pearl got in front of the others, and Ruby was the one to take a step forward and see who was there.

"Are you ready to go?"

The question was posed by a Pearl, who stood unperturbed as they looked her over. _White Diamond's_ , Blue concluded, taking in the unusual outfit and the gem on her forehead. White Diamond's Pearls didn't share many commonalities besides color and gem placement, but it was still easy to pick them out when they seemed to be the starting point for new experimental Pearl designs. This one was fairly simplistic, sharp points adorning the top of her leotard and the translucent skirt attached to it, topped by fluffy hair that was short on the side but flopped over her forehead and obscured part of her gem.

The boldness of her personality was starkly different though. She didn't cower at the sight of other gems, didn't show an ounce of shyness or hesitation, just walked right into the ship like she'd been invited and looked around.

"We're ready," Pearl answered, expression unreadable. "Are you White Diamond's…?"

"Yeah, I'm White." There was a distinct lack of pleasantries, and Blue wondered if she might not be so eager to meet one of her many predecessors. The Pearl frowned a little as she looked around, taking account of all of them. "Crimson said there were supposed to be six—" White stopped short, noticing Yellow. "I thought you were busy."

"What?"

"Crimson said you and Sky were busy, so she sent me. Anyway, whatever, I'll just let you handle things."

"What are you talking about?" Yellow asked, voice raising slightly when White headed for the door. "Where are you _going?_ "

"Haven't decided yet. Might try to snag some more of that cool-looking equipment in Facet Eight."

"You're supposed to take us back with you!"

"Huh?" White gave her a puzzled look. "Is this another of your jokes that I'm not getting?"

"I think maybe there's been a misunderstanding," Blue interjected. "This is Yellow. She's the Pearl who escaped with me; she just got here too."

"Oh, right." White nodded, understanding dawning in her eyes. "Okay, in that case, follow me. Although that puts you up to seven gems again."

"Ruby and I are usually fused," Sapphire explained. "But it's safer like this until we get to your base."

"Fair enough." White appeared totally uninterested in the mention of fusion. "Let's go."

"I'm Steven, by the way," Steven said, hurrying to catch up with her as they exited. "And this is Amethyst and Blue and—"

"I know who you are. You don't need to waste time with introductions," White said bluntly.

He looked startled, snapping his mouth shut.

"What's _your_ problem?" Amethyst asked as the rest of them encircled Steven to keep him out of sight of any possible passersby.

"I don't have a problem."

"Well, you're being kinda rude for somebody without a problem."

"I'm in a hurry."

"You have to get back to your Diamond?" Blue asked sympathetically.

"No, I'm just running out of time to get things done. I'll probably get shattered within a week or two."

She said it like it was nothing, no emotion behind the words.

"How do you know?" Pearl asked apprehensively.

"That's just how it works." White tilted her head to the right before turning neatly ninety degrees. "This way."

"White Diamond's been pretty…fickle about keeping Pearls around since you left," Blue explained quietly to Pearl, before turning her attention back towards White. "Has it—Has it gotten worse because Yellow and I left?"

"That's what I've been told. We're lucky to make it a month these days."

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, horrified. "I didn't realize…"

"It's fine," White said with a shrug. "I don't have time to hold grudges."

Blue didn't even know what she could say to that. Pearl and Yellow looked equally at a loss for words.

"…Do you want a hug?" Steven asked hesitantly.

White looked down at him for a moment, not slowing her pace. "No, but I've come to understand they're inevitable."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, just make it quick."

"Okay." When she paused for a split second, Steven put his arms around her and squeezed gently, the hug lasting no more than two seconds before he let go so she could continue leading the way.

White clicked her tongue, smirk playing on the corner of her lips. "The others will definitely like you," she said. "Now hurry up."

* * *

"Base" was a rather nondescript building from the outside. The eight of them had made their way through the deserted sector, taking in the robust but completely abandoned structures on every side, until White stopped them.

She keyed a long, complex code into a panel beside the door, fingers moving so quickly it seemed effortless. She gestured for all of them to get inside and then shut the door again behind them, shouting, "Crimson, I got them!"

Blue looked around wide-eyed. It was a nicer place than she'd expected—and _big_. Two long hallways lay ahead of them, framing a large room directly before them. As they took a few steps into the near-immaculate entryway, she could see a number of Pearls turning around to look at them at the sound of White's announcement. She could pick out the few Pearls they had talked to already, as well as many more who she recognized by sight from all her time sharing the projections. A few, including a blue Pearl with a curly ponytail who disappeared out of her line of sight as soon as she noticed her, were completely unfamiliar.

"Welcome!" Crimson called, appearing from the hallway off to their right. "It's great to see you. Did you have a safe trip?"

"We did," Pearl answered, smiling. She seemed invigorated by the atmosphere in the place. "No trouble at all."

"Good." Crimson gave them all a quick salute, fist at her shoulder. "Please, come on in. Everyone's looking forward to meeting you, if you're not too tired from the journey."

"No, that sounds wonderful," Sapphire answered. "Just a moment, please."

Blue watched as she joined hands with Ruby and the two of them fused effortlessly. It was so impressive, seeing how loving and solid Garnet was as a gem and as a relationship.

Crimson seemed to be trying her hardest not to stare. "Um, it'll be right this way. And thank you for going to get them, White, I really appreciate it."

"Sure," she replied, clearly ready to get going again.

"What are your plans for today?"

"Haven't made any," White answered easily.

"Alright, well, you're welcome to stick around for a little while and help us show everyone around," she offered.

She nodded noncommittally.

Crimson sighed and instead focused on showing their guests inside to the larger room. "This is our common room," she explained as a number of Pearls hurried to join them. "We mostly just use it for socializing."

The place itself seemed a little outdated, only in the sense that some of the more modern accoutrements were absent. Somebody had clearly stripped the place of anything reusable, and the rest had been left behind along with all the marks on the floor that showed there had once been more there.

Now, it was the sort of room that was on the way to being cozy. The large amount of furniture congregated near the walls and the corners was all clearly replicated, with very little variety and even less softness. It was easy to forget what standard Homeworld furniture tended towards after so much time on Earth. But there was an assortment of small things here and there that made it feel homier than one of Homeworld's usual rooms, and it was clear they'd spent a lot of time trying to make it nice.

Silver was first to join them, smiling widely as she greeted all of them. " _Welcome to our humble abode!_ " she said proudly as Chroma and Aura joined her. She knelt in front of Steven and extended a hand warmly. When he took it, she squeezed it firmly between both of her hands and smiled, projecting a small picture of a door opening in place of words.

"Thank you! I'm really excited I get to visit!"

She looked immensely happy that he'd understood the welcome and nodded, letting his hands go and standing.

"We're really happy to have you," Chroma added warmly.

"Thanks!"

"Oh my stars, are you the Rose Quartz?" a new voice said excitedly. "You're so cute and tiny!"

 _Tiny_ , they realized as they looked up, was particularly accurate considering that the green Pearl who'd spoken was a full head taller than every other one in the room, closer in height to Garnet. For a moment, she seemed like she might be a fusion too but closer inspection revealed that she just had a large, unusually-shaped gem. It seemed to drip down her chest, beginning around the point Blue's did and going several lengths further down towards her stomach.

"That's me!" Steven answered, eyes going wide with awe.

"That's amazing!" She patted his head gingerly, then suddenly noticed Amethyst beside him. "And you too," she gushed. "Oh my stars, nobody told me you were all so wonderful!"

" _I told you they were small_ ," Silver pointed out.

"I thought you just meant a _little_ smaller. Quartzes vary a bit in size to begin with, don't they?"

" _I'll be more specific next time then_ ," she replied, laughing silently.

"Can I hug you?" the tall Pearl asked the two of them earnestly.

"Uh…" Amethyst looked a little taken aback. "Sure?"

"Thanks!" She swept both of them up at once, hugging them softly. "I'm so happy you're here!"

"You might want to introduce yourself to them first," Crimson pointed out, amusement playing on her lips.

"Oh, right!" She set them down again, careful with each movement. "I'm Viridian, Viri for short. It's wonderful to meet all of you. It's Garnet, right? It'll be so nice to have someone taller than me here!"

"Nice to meet you too," she returned with a small smile.

"And Blue and Yellow, right? And Pearl? It's really great to meet you." They were all treated to a round of hugs, and Blue was surprised by how gentle Viri's grip was. Yellow squirmed a bit at the unfamiliar touch, but she didn't complain.

"So this is Viri," Crimson continued. "And you already know Silver, Chroma, and Aura…" She slowly worked her way around the room, naming the other Pearls one by one, even the one peeking in from one of the other entrances and barely noticeable. "Ory, White, and—"

"Um, I'm not White." The Pearl Crimson had pointed to was, in fact, purple.

"Sorry, Violet. I could have sworn—where did White go?"

Violet shrugged and pointed a thumb towards the door. "She didn't stay very long."

"Ah. Well, this is Violet," she continued, finishing off the round of names, "and Sky." She pointed to the blue Pearl, confirming what Blue had suspected upon seeing her.

She _was_ Blue Diamond's new Pearl then. Her gem ached a little as she watched Sky avert her eyes with her "Hello, nice to meet you."

"Then I guess it's our turn," Amethyst said as she finished. "This is Garnet, Steven, Pearl, Yellow, and Blue. And I'm Amethyst, who's starting to wonder if she got cheated out of a cooler name."

"It's too late, you're our Amethyst," Garnet said, placing a hand on top of her hand fondly.

"Yeah, at least I'm not the only one with a regular old name, huh, guys?"

"Don't look at us," Yellow said, pretending to be offended. "Blue and I picked our names for a reason, at least."

Amethyst laughed.

"So I see they never pulled the stick out of your ass," another Pearl said.

The room went dead silent in an instant, everyone either freezing or turning to look at Millie, who was standing in the doorway and looking completely undeterred by the reaction. Pearl covered Steven's ears belatedly.

Blue took a step forward, wanting to defend Yellow, but Crimson spoke before she could.

"I thought Lavender was with you," she said wearily.

"I ditched her."

"You're quite insistent on making a terrible first impression, aren't you?"

Millie shrugged nonchalantly. "I wanted to see them in person."

"Well, you've seen them _and_ insulted them now, so let's go." She began tugging Millie towards the door by one side of her skirt. Chroma, Silver, and Viri were doing their best to stifle or disguise their laughter.

"Wait," Blue said quickly. "You're from Pink Diamond's court, aren't you?"

Millie froze for a second before speaking. "I am. You…remember me?"

"Definitely! I didn't get a chance to mention it last time, but I'm glad you're safe."

"O-Oh," she breathed, pressing her fingers to her lips. "Thank you," she added quietly, eyes looking distinctly watery.

"And," Blue added with a gentle smile, "this is Yellow, who's less than a thousand years old and very definitely different from the Pearl I _think_ you're thinking of."

"Oh, right," she said, gathering herself. "I s-sssee."

"Yes," Yellow said. "So if you could please consider that before you start talking about my ass…"

Blue nearly laughed aloud, while Pearl muttered " _Language_ " to Yellow and received only a blank look in return.

"Millie!"

They all turned to see another Pearl arrive in a rush, purple skin flushed as she skidded to a halt. "I'm sorry," she said to Crimson. "I lost her."

"We noticed," Crimson said, a hint of a smile on her lips.

"I'm so sorry," she said again.

"It's okay, Lavender, don't worry about it."

"Thanks," she replied, embarrassed, before walking over to Millie. "You shouldn't have run off like that!"

"Crimson sssshouldn't have assigned you t-to distract me in the first place," Millie said, making an attempt at haughtiness that didn't quite succeed. "I'm perfectly capable of being civil."

"Yes, you've proven me completely wrong," Crimson said, rolling her eyes. "I _did_ try to explain," she added to Yellow. "And then decided it was probably safer to delay this particular meeting since…"

" _No filter_ ," Silver finished with a grin, giving Millie a friendly nudge.

Millie blushed a little and shrugged it off, quiet as her eyes flicked to Blue again. Yellow continued eyeing the thin Pearl with a scowl.

"Well, let's go then," Lavender said. Her eyes searched Millie's expression for a moment before they softened a bit. "Come on," she said again.

"I'm not finished," Millie said belatedly.

"Yes, you are. Let's go back."

Millie huffed and reluctantly followed after her, not arguing any more.

"Well," Crimson said, embarrassed, "sorry about that. I suppose we can get to showing you around now."

" _Yeah, would you like a tour of the place?_ " Silver offered eagerly.

"Yes, we can show you your rooms and everything too so you can get settled in," Aura added.

"That sounds wonderful," Pearl answered. "Though before we do that, where would you like us to put the supplies we brought with us?" She gestured to her gem.

"Oh, of course," Crimson said. "We'll start the tour over by the storage rooms then. That'll be right over here."

She led the way out through the exit to their right, and a handful of other Pearls followed after them. Sky, noticeably, did not—she lingered in a corner for a moment before pulling out a screen and settling stiffly into a chair to work.

Blue wanted to talk to her, but she wasn't really given the opportunity right then. Instead, she hurried to catch up to Yellow, who tentatively reached for her hand as they walked and smiled when Blue gave it.

" _Told you_ ," she saw Silver project briefly in Chroma's direction. The other Pearl just gave her a crooked smile and pulled at her fingers to get her to lower her hand.

Crimson cleared her throat. "So this is the storage hallway," she explained as they turned left and then right. "We may find other uses for some of the rooms later, but for now that's their main purpose. It's where we keep supplies and any kind of items that can be replicated for our living space." She opened up one of the first few doors and then made a startled noise as she had to duck to avoid a small object that came flying out. "Snow!"

"It wasn't me, it was Quin!" A Pearl with fluffy white hair poked her head out. "She's messing with my inventory again, Crim—oh, hello."

"It's not my fault you put down the wrong number," another Pearl called cheerfully.

"Quin, we've got guests, stop being picky," Snow said over her shoulder.

"We do?" The other Pearl appeared beside her. "Hello! Quinacridone, at your service."

On first glance her coloring made her look nearly the same as Crimson, but beyond that she bore little resemblance. Her hair was short and curly, with her gem nestled into it right on the very top of her head.

She grinned as she picked up the fallen pen and handed it smartly back to Snow. "Well, I can take things from here, Snow. You can spend time with the Renegade and I will take on this arduous task of—"

"Don't make it sound like you're doing me a favor," Snow laughed, keeping a tight grip on the tablet Quin was trying to get away from her. "Why don't _you_ show them around? I'm sure they'll appreciate your attention to detail."

"You're just trying to get rid of me!"

"You threw a pen at my head, I think it's justified. Even if you missed by a long shot."

"You threw off my aim by being so short," Quin said breezily.

"If one or two inches difference is enough to throw off your aim, I'm not sure you had one to begin with."

"I nearly hit Crimson!" she protested. "My aim is fine."

"Glad I could be of service," Crimson said dryly.

"So are you two the ones we should leave the supplies with?" Blue intercepted smoothly.

"That's me," Snow answered, looking mildly embarrassed as she finally gave a salute, hand going behind her back. "Sorry, I'm Snowdrop by the way. Let me show you where you can put everything."

"Thanks."

"And Quin?" Snow tossed the pen back at her. "If you want to be _helpful_ , you could start organizing that room instead," she said, pointing at the adjoining wall.

"Fine," she sighed.

Snow drew herself up proudly and led the way down the hall, watching patiently as the three newly arrived Pearls began pulling boxes of equipment and various other supplies from their gems. Some of it was food for Steven, which Pearl made sure to request was stored somewhere easily accessible. The rest was pushed into the empty room haphazardly, and Snow promised to get it all sorted as soon as she could.

"Alright, I suppose we should head to the infirmary next?" Crimson decided.

She led them in that direction, pausing briefly to show them a meeting room, the communications room—the one they'd seen on the calls before—where Aura and Millie worked, and a small room that functioned as Crimson's office.

"We have a couple little lounge areas set up too," she added, gesturing to the sparsely decorated space just outside her door. "If Pearls want somewhere a little quieter than the common room. And right over here is our infirmary." She led them to a room near the entry. "We thought it would be best to have it by the door for convenience, but I'm afraid there's not much here that _makes_ it an infirmary."

"Hopefully we can change that," Pearl said.

"Thanks." Crimson opened the door. "Come on in, I told them to expect you."

It was true that there wasn't much there, but what was there was nicely kept. There were three plain beds lined up on one side of the room with cozy-looking replicated blankets on top. Only one was occupied, a blue Pearl and an orange Pearl curled up together with their eyes closed, half covered by a blanket.

"They got injured while escaping from their owner," Crimson said quietly, going over to them and gently calling out "Cyan."

The blue Pearl stirred slowly, rolling over and peering at them with her one visible eye through long bangs. She brushed a few more intrusive bits of hair away from her face, revealing the edge of her gem, in place of her left eye. "Caddy, please," she mumbled, "I just got all the glitter out of my hair this morning and I need to look presentable for—" Her eye went wide all of a sudden and she sat straight up, realizing who was standing beside the bed. She snapped her arms into a diamond salute, then realized her mistake right away and broke it, instead clenching her fist for a rebellion-style salute and bringing it up to her eye gem a little too enthusiastically, giving the impression she'd just tried to punch herself in the face. She let out a startled "Ow!'

"And that's our new tactician," Crimson said with a smile. "Are you alright?"

"What happened to their old tactician?" Yellow muttered under her breath, and Blue elbowed her in the side discreetly, trying not to laugh.

"I'm sorry," Blue added, leaning forward a little with concern in her eyes. "We didn't mean to surprise you."

"No, it's fine, I'm okay!"

"Well, we've got some healing tears in case you're not," she replied with an amused smile.

Cyan blushed, rubbing at her gem. "Stars, it really is you," she breathed, taking in Blue's appearance like she was trying to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"I look forward to working with you," Blue offered.

"Me too. I mean, you too. Working with you. It's an honor."

"You too," she answered, then realized that was completely redundant and laughed.

Cyan did too and then, after another moment of staring, she hurriedly gathered her hair together and pinned it up as neatly as she could with all the lingering bedhead. "Tangerine," she whispered excitedly, tapping the sleeping Pearl on the shoulder. "Tangerine, they're here, they're real."

Tangerine didn't wake immediately and Cyan seemed to catch herself, stilling her hands so they were just resting lightly on the other Pearl's skin. Now that she had moved, it was easier to see Tangerine's gem. It was nestled in the dip of her sternum, in the space between where Blue's and Steven's were. The damage to it was evident in the scratch interrupting the unusual two-toned surface. More artificial—but no less serious—wounds showed on her skin too, including a large gash on her leg that was visible only briefly as Cyan rearranged the blanket.

"Crimson said you brought something that can heal Tangerine's gem?"

"We did."

Pearl had carried the tears there and she removed them now, Garnet helping her get the huge container out of her gem and onto the floor. Once it had been set down safely, Blue dipped a small vial inside it. She let the remnants drip back down the sides before passing it over to Cyan carefully.

"Thank you," she murmured, holding it securely in both hands for a moment before gently tipping the contents drop by drop onto the crack in Tangerine's gem. It immediately began to shrink and disappear as the tears were applied.

"She'll probably need at least a few more doses to be safe," Garnet added, helping Steven prepare a few more vials.

"Okay. Should I do them all at once or space them out?"

"You can do another one when she wakes up if you think it'll help. Otherwise, space them out a little. Every hour, or more often if she's still hurting. Here," she added, handing over another. "For your hands."

Cyan looked a little startled. "Oh, thank you, but it's not gem damage—"

"It'll still heal you much faster than you would on your own," Pearl said. "Please, take it. There's plenty to go around."

She nodded, accepting the vial from Garnet and spilling a little bit onto the scorch marks marring her palms and fingers.

"Better?" Steven asked hopefully.

"Much better," she agreed, smiling. She was nudging at Tangerine again excitedly with her freshly healed hands. "I'm sure it'll be a great help for everyone."

"I hope so," Pearl said. "They certainly have been in the past."

"I'd love to hear about some of your strategies from the Earth rebellion," Cyan said, stilling her hands when she realized what she was doing. "And of course any new ideas you might have too," she added, directing the last bit at Blue.

"That sounds like a great idea, but I'm sure you're more skilled in strategy than I am," Blue said, nearly short-circuiting Cyan again.

The conversation meandered for a little bit longer, and Crimson helped Amethyst maneuver the rest of the healing tears over to one wall. After a while, Tangerine shifted around in her sleep, finally seeming close to waking, and Cyan gently nudged her along the rest of the way until she opened her eyes.

"My gem…" she said first, looking down at it and running careful fingers over the now-smooth surface.

"They brought the healing tears for you. We can put some more on if you want, and on your other injuries."

Tangerine nodded, eyes flicking to the small crowd next to her bed, and struggled to lift herself into a sitting position. Cyan hurried to help her, slipping an arm around her waist while the other got the pillows gathered against the wall to support her. "Hello," Tangerine offered quietly once she was settled. "I'm Tangerine."

"I'm Blue, and this is Yellow, Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, and Steven," she offered.

"It's great to meet you," Steven said earnestly, handing over the rest of the vials to her and Cyan. "I honor your service."

"Steven," Tangerine repeated slowly, stunned. "I honor your bravery," she murmured.

He nodded brightly, then blinked as she placed a careful hand atop his head.

"You look so much like your mother."

"You knew—?" He stopped himself before finishing the question, recognizing the hesitancy in her tired eyes. "Thanks," he finished instead. "You, um, you have a really cool gem," he offered in return. "I like the colors."

Tangerine's hand rushed to cover her gem, a panicked look on her face before Cyan's hand joined hers and soothed it away.

"Sorry," Steven said apologetically.

"No, it's alright," she said quietly. She hesitated for a moment, looking slowly between the others before focusing back on Cyan. "So what've you all been talking about?" she asked, changing the subject. "You've dreamt of this day for years after all."

That earned her a small laugh from her companion. "Tangerine!"

"She's quite fond of you," Tangerine continued, turning to Blue with a smile tugging playfully at her lips. "You're all she'd talk about after her rest cycles. Her cool blue hero."

"Her valor was an inspiration to us all," Cyan said matter-of-factly, though it was impossible to hide the blush creeping back up on her cheeks.

"You're very kind to say so, but it wasn't all me," Blue said, bumping shoulders lightly with Yellow.

Cyan nodded, though she was too busy trying to figure out how to make eye contact without imploding to really notice Yellow.

"Well, we should let you rest," Garnet said, nodding to Tangerine. "Use as many tears as you need and let us know if there's anything more we can do for you."

"Thank you. Really, I…" She shook her head. "Thanks."

"No problem."

* * *

With that important task out of the way, their little group trailed along on the rest of their tour, everyone—Crystal Gems and the accompanying Pearls—trying their best not to laugh when they heard the giddy squeal behind them that was very definitely Cyan.

They cut through the common room, in one side and out the other to get to the training room, which Silver showed off proudly. It was, like most of the other rooms, a bit sparse, but it probably didn't matter too much considering what it was used for.

" _We can have you come join in tomorrow if you like_ ," she said happily. " _I cancelled today's training since you guys were coming._ "

"That sounds wonderful," Pearl said, running her fingers over a blade that had been left out on one of the benches lining the wall. "This is incredible handiwork; did you make this?"

" _Oh, no, that's Az. Azalea._ " Silver pointed off in the direction of the part of the building they hadn't gotten to yet. " _She does all the smithing, she's great._ "

"Ah, your forge," Blue recalled.

"Yeah, we can take you over there tomorrow too if you like," Chroma said.

"Please," Pearl agreed.

Blue nodded. She'd never really caught more than a glimpse of any weapons-making in progress.

"It's pretty much just living quarters left to show you now," Aura said with a smile. "Would you like to see?"

"Sure."

On the way out though, Blue caught sight of Sky in what must have been another little lounge area and stayed back as the others continued down the hall, Crimson pointing out her room at the head of the hall and then Silver's, Chroma's, Aura's, and so forth.

"Hi."

Sky jumped, startled by Blue's sudden appearance beside her.

"Sorry," the other Pearl apologized.

"It's okay," she murmured. "Hello. Is there something I can do for you?"

"I just wondered if we could talk, actually? It's Sky, right?"

"Oh. Yes. Of course, it's a pleasure." Sky straightened up, and Blue was struck by how different her design was to her own. Her first thought was that the outfit was odd, outdated. All diamonds, from the intersection of her gossamer jacket with the top of her leotard, to the crisscross of the long ribbons of her ballet shoes, to the large cutout that left her stomach exposed. The colors were plenty familiar, but the design—didn't it belong to someone else once? One of Pink Diamond's Pearls that Blue kept tucked in some far away memory with all the other nameless she saw go? "What is it?"

Blue didn't answer right away, suddenly feeling every one of her thousands of years alive. "You would have every right to hate me," she said softly. "Regardless of what I've done, I certainly haven't helped you by doing it." She swallowed. "It wasn't that I didn't think about you—the possibility of you, I mean. I just…had to leave anyway. I'm sorry."

Sky's mouth moved for a moment without words. "Are you apologizing for letting me exist?"

"Oh!" Blue's eyes flew wide. "No! That's not what I meant at all! I just—"

"I like existing," Sky said firmly. "And I'm glad you left. You needed to."

It was sincere, and meant to be kind, Blue thought, but it still felt like a slap in the face.

"I don't hate you," she added, looking away. "I just don't know how I'm supposed to feel about you."

"That's okay," Blue said. "I guess I'm pretty confused too."

"Yeah." Sky fidgeted with her sleeves.

"How is she since I've been gone?" she asked slowly, not sure if she wanted the answer.

She shrugged, and Blue felt silly for asking. It wasn't like the younger Pearl could compare the before and after. "I'm mostly for show," she answered slowly. "She sends me away when she's not in court or meetings. It—It gives me time to come here, which is nice."

"It is," Blue agreed, relieved.

"Yellow Diamond is pretty much the same," Sky added when the conversation seemed in danger of grinding to a halt.

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

Maybe there wasn't much hope for the conversation anyway.

"I'll, um, let you get back to your tour."

"Oh, right. Thank you, Sky."

"You're welcome." She gave Blue a polite smile and salute. "I-I honor your service."

"I honor your bravery."

She was hoping that somehow it would help, but Sky only flinched, ducked her head, and murmured something Blue assumed was a goodbye.

* * *

When she did catch up with the others, Crimson glanced at her, and then back over her shoulder to where Sky was sitting.

"Do you mind if I leave you with Chroma, Silver, and Aura?" she asked after a moment. "There's something I need to check on."

"Oh, sure," Pearl said.

"Thanks. Let me know if you need anything."

Crimson walked off back the way they'd come, slowing as she reached the small lounge area and slipping into the seat next to Sky. The other Pearl looked up, surprised, and said something, but Crimson shook her head. Whatever she said in response made Sky smile for the first time since Blue had first seen her.

She looked away. Maybe she should have given the other Pearl space, but she'd wanted to at least try to say _something_. She'd have to try again later, try to start off better than with an apology for letting this new Pearl fill her place, a place that really no one ought to be forced to fill. But at least she had the rebellion, right?

Blue smiled at Yellow when she felt her hand on her back, awkward but reassuring.

"These'll be your rooms," Chroma said as they neared another part of the hall. Sure enough, small nameplates had been placed on the three doors with all six of them listed. "We weren't really sure who would be rooming with who, so we just took a guess. Feel free to rearrange everything as you see fit."

"Thank you," Pearl said warmly. "Steven, did you want your own room? Garnet, Amethyst, and I can share."

"Oh! Umm…" He considered it for a moment. "Yes please?"

"Alright." Garnet swapped out the name plates. "Now we're all set."

"We'll leave you to get settled in," Aura said shyly. "If you need anything, you can usually find me in communications, or my room is right over that way, like we said." She pointed to the left.

"And we're right next to her," Chroma added. "Or, if there's nobody there, then you're bound to find one of us in the common room."

Garnet thanked them again, and they went their separate ways, Blue and Yellow heading into the door with their names on it.

The room was a cozy size—not huge by any means, but big enough to be comfortable without feeling stifled. There was some simplistic furniture, including a large bed, a table, and some shelves, all empty and fresh. One wall had a faux window apparatus to provide the illusion of a view—though a real window there would have only shown them a hallway.

Blue flicked it on curiously and scrolled through a couple options before settling on one that looked like the Homeworld sky she'd often glimpsed through windows in Blue Diamond's quarters. It had a different feel from Earth's night sky, but it felt welcoming all the same.

"Impressive," Yellow said, though she was looking at the apparatus itself instead of the picture. "Weird, but impressive."

" _Everything_ is impressive," Blue said. "Being here with everyone."

"Yeah."

"Do you like it alright?" she checked worriedly, hearing the exhaustion in Yellow's voice.

"I do, I just need a break. Stars, chatty doesn't even begin to describe these Pearls."

Blue laughed and tugged Yellow away from the wall, closer to the bed. "I'll be quiet for a little bit then, I promise."

"Thanks." She gave Blue a quick smile before climbing into the bed and lying flat on her back, appreciating the softness of both the bed and Blue's voice as she joined her.

"Good night."


	29. Chapter 29

Blue and Yellow stayed in their room for a few hours, neither of them really settled enough to sleep through the whole "night." The others seemed to be staying in though, so the two Pearls wandered back in the direction of the common room.

It wasn't as busy as it had been earlier, though that was probably to be expected. Viri seemed to be entertaining a small group of Pearls on one side of the room, while another corner was a mess of scattered parts—some of which they could recognize as ones they'd brought by request—that Chroma was inspecting and putting together alongside Lavender. Millie and Snow were nearby, watching them and talking as they looked at something on a small screen.

Blue looked around for a moment and then settled into an empty chair near Viri, who beamed when she noticed their arrival. "Hi again," Blue greeted her warmly, Yellow echoing her with a "Hello."

"Hi! How is everything?"

"It's perfect. We've never really had our own space before, not like this. It'll be great!"

"Oh, yeah, of course." Viri nodded, but she sounded as if she was agreeing out of habit. "I'm a little jealous you guys get to have each other as roommates actually. I was going to volunteer to have somebody stay with me to make space, but Crimson keeps saying it's important for everyone to have a place where they can be on their own if they need it."

"That's understandable," Blue said with a little smile.

"Yeah." Viri shrugged, enthusiasm undampened. "So that's why it's more fun out here!"

"It's nice having so many Pearls all together," she agreed, eyes traveling the room once more. "We aren't interrupting you, are we? We can find something else to do if you're busy."

"No, no, we're not doing anything in particular. Just taking a break together." She looked happy and cozy in the little group, Pearls sitting all around her and content to just listen as she smoothly resumed the story she'd been recounting when Blue and Yellow had come in. It was a surprisingly light and fluffy tale coming from a Pearl, about how Viri and a tiny Pearl she'd been in service alongside had gone exploring and found a hidden room perfect to practice their dancing in when their owner was away, secretly decorating it with what little they could scrounge up to surprise the rest of their friends.

Blue listened intently and Yellow's interest, meanwhile, had been caught by whatever Chroma and Lavender were putting together—or taking apart?—across the room.

"You should go talk to them," Blue urged her softly when Viri paused at the end of her story.

"You think?"

"Mm-hm." She nudged her gently, not pushing her out of her spot but encouraging her to vacate it if she wanted to.

And Yellow did, after some hesitation, pushing herself upright and making her way over.

"Hey," she tried awkwardly, clearing her throat as she came up beside Chroma.

"Hey," Chroma answered, Lavender echoing her a split second later.

"…Anything I can do to help?"

"Sure." She was pleasantly surprised by the offer. "We're putting together some detector fields to set up around base to boost our security a little. Lavender can show you the ropes if you like; she was the one who came up with this design."

"Yeah, sounds good." She added a belated "Thanks" as Lavender began gathering everything she needed together to show Yellow how it was done.

"You're welcome," she answered with a smile.

On first glance, it seemed to Yellow like they were missing several key components that would be needed for a project like this, but everything flowed together easily, if unpredictably, as Lavender assembled it and Chroma offered additional commentary throughout.

"Think you got it?" Chroma asked when Lavender had finished.

"Yes. It's…unconventional, but yes."

"We make do with what we've got." There was a little bit of a challenge there. "What do you think, is there room for improvement?"

Yellow nearly regretted commenting in the first place—what answer was she meant to give? A deferential no, so they wouldn't think she assumed herself better than them? Or a real answer, because being equals required honesty? She didn't want to start any kind of trouble on their first day there. "I think you could do away with this," she said finally, tapping a small standard power cell inside the open device, "and increase the range if you replace it with the insides of one of those instead." She pointed to some of the half-destroyed equipment sitting on the floor to her left. "It'll be kind of clunky, but it'll do a better job."

Chroma and Lavender just looked at her for a moment, before Chroma spoke. "You're right."

"Much better idea," Lavender agreed with a nod, smile playing on her lips as she began dissembling the couple of field generators they'd already completed without protest. Her fingers were sticky with bonding spray as she took the one Yellow was holding.

"Not bad," Chroma concluded, looking Yellow over appreciatively. "We don't have any formal training, so it would be good to have another pair of eyes on some of these projects we have piling up."

"I don't either," Yellow said with a dismissive shrug. "But I likely saw a bigger variety of tech being worked on than you two did."

That…might have come out wrong. Lavender kept her eyes glued firmly on her work, while Chroma simply turned her face slightly, obscuring Yellow's view of her gem.

"You probably did," she said plainly.

"Sorry." The word felt strange and heavy, the ever-familiar fear of _you did something wrong_ slamming into her. She was meant to be getting along with these Pearls, not insulting them by bringing up their former positions.

"It's fine." Chroma's gaze slid sideways, the apology softening her expression again. "Just been a while since anybody's brought up status like that. Most of the new recruits are too polite to do anything other than stare."

"I could try that if you prefer."

For a moment, Yellow worried that she should have just apologized and left it at that, but then a small smile tilted Chroma's lips. "I'll pass," she said lightly.

"I am sorry," Yellow said, chancing a tentative almost-smile back.

"It's fine," Chroma repeated, more genuine this time. "No hard feelings, as long as you don't make a habit of it."

"Right." She relaxed a little. "Well, it's clear there's plenty I can learn from you as well."

"Hm?" Her eyebrows lifted inquisitively.

"For starters, how exactly the window apparatus in our room is staying together. Because it really shouldn't be."

"I suppose I could show you," Chroma laughed.

"Usually the best way to figure it out is to take it apart," Lavender volunteered, startling Yellow after having gone quiet for so long.

"It is _not_ ," Chroma argued, flicking a little round power cell at Lavender's knee and watching it bounce off harmlessly. "You can just ask me."

"I'll do that." Yellow began picking up some small pieces to begin putting together. "So what other projects do you have going?"

"All sorts," she said. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into by volunteering."

"I like a challenge."

"Good."

* * *

They spent a couple more hours there, Pearls coming and going as Yellow continued working. Aura and Sky came in and sat nearby, Lavender left with Millie and Snow, Quin joined Viri's little group on the other side of the room, and a timid-looking white Pearl she didn't recognize from their tour darted in and out at random.

"Morning, guys," Steven said, poking his head in the common room.

"Good morning, Steven," Blue said cheerfully.

"Does anybody want something for breakfast? Garnet said she'd get some ready."

"What's breakfast?" Viri asked curiously.

"Food that you eat in the morning," Yellow explained, barely glancing up from the little components in her hands that she was stitching together with ease after so many repetitions.

"Oh! Humans eat food, I forgot about that."

"Could we see what it's like?" Sky said shyly. "We've never had anything like 'breakfast.'"

"Yeah, of course, let me go tell the others," Steven replied happily. "We brought _loads_ of food."

"Do you eat breakfast?" Chroma asked Yellow as he ran off.

"I drink tea. It's a…hot liquid thing. I think that qualifies?"

"Huh."

"We should all try it," Viri declared, moving over to sit next to Chroma. The rest of the Pearls moved with her, so everyone was gathered together. " _Breakfast_ ," she repeated, making it sound almost exotic.

Blue smiled as she joined Yellow, leaning lightly against her shoulder to get her attention and reaching a hand up to fix one of the clips that had begun to slip from her short hair.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Blue gave the other Pearls a quick, hopeful wave. "Hi."

They all said hi back, though Yellow could still feel tense uncertainty radiating between Blue and Sky.

"So what are you working on?" she asked Yellow, directing her attention to the halfway-completed detector field parts between her and Chroma.

Soon after the few minutes it took to explain it, Steven came hurrying back in, carrying some kind of makeshift tray that held a big stack of recently-unfrozen waffles and a selection of tiny jams displayed all around the plate. "Here we go! We might have broken the toaster, but Garnet and Pearl figured out how to zap them warm anyway! Who wants to try?"

"I will," Aura volunteered.

"Okay," he said happily. "Hmm," he added as he scanned the array of jam. "How about marmalade? It's kind of gold, like you."

"Sure?" she laughed, tilting her head in confusion. "Does it have to match?"

"Nope, I just thought it would be an easy way to pick!" Steven opened up the little packet for her, tipping it out messily on top of the first waffle before holding it out to Aura.

"You have to shapeshift a stomach," Blue said hastily before she could bring it to her mouth.

"Oh, right." Aura concentrated for a moment, then smiled. "Got it. So…do I put all of this in my mouth at once?"

"If you want to," Steven said, "but usually you take a bite like this." He demonstrated by taking a large bite out of a plain waffle.

Aura nodded seriously, looking at the food in her hand for a few seconds before tentatively bringing it to her mouth to take a tiny bite. She sat still, just holding it in her mouth for a moment before she began to chew. "It's good!" she said happily after swallowing. "I like how warm it is."

Chroma smiled, watching Aura take another small bite and then silently offer her the remaining waffle to try. "Not today, but thanks," she said warmly.

With Aura's approval, several other Pearls eagerly volunteered to try some as well. Steven passed them out—continuing to match jam to gem color if possible—and eagerly awaited the verdict as he munched on his own.

"It's good," Sky said quietly, mumbling through a mouthful of blueberry jam. "Thank you."

"It's really cute," Viri agreed, holding the last little bit of hers carefully in both hands. "Thank you for letting us try."

"Yeah, no problem," Steven laughed.

"Garnet said some of you might like tea?" Pearl's voice rang out from the doorway closest to the living quarters.

"Yes please," came a small chorus.

"And Steven, I _did_ bring forks…" she sighed.

"It's more fun to eat them like this!"

"Hmm."

"Would you like a breakfast?" Aura asked Pearl hesitantly, pointing to the waffles.

"Oh, goodness, no. Thank you." She smiled as she set down the tea and began pouring a few cups. "I'm afraid I've never particularly enjoyed eating or drinking."

"Ah, okay."

"Here you go," Pearl said kindly, offering her a cup.

"Oh! Thank you!" She inhaled some of the steam rising off the top. "It already seems perfect. Chroma, doesn't it smell beautiful?"

Chroma leaned forward to oblige, smile crinkling the corners of her eyes. "It does. It suits you."

Aura blushed and quickly took a large gulp of the tea. She wrinkled her nose at the sudden burn in her mouth but delight quickly overcame it as she started taking more manageable sips. "I love this," she said earnestly. "Could you…show me how to make it? If it's not too much trouble?"

"No trouble at all," Pearl reassured her. "It's not hard."

She nodded happily, already finishing her cup.

A number of other Pearls tried as well, but she was the only one who worked her way through three cups, practically glowing as she savored it.

Yellow had two herself, the warmth of it settling all through her, and despite the crowd… Well, it wasn't nearly as stressful as she'd expected being here.

* * *

The universe, of course, immediately decided to prove her wrong.

"Oh, hey, you're new."

They all turned to look at the Pearl who'd joined them just as the last remnants of breakfast were being cleaned up, and Yellow's shoulders went rigid at the sight of someone who would have been identical to her only months before. Blue pressed an inconspicuous hand to her back.

Her doppelganger's eyes flitted up and down curiously, taking in Yellow. "So," she said, one hand on her hip, "who's been messing around with Chroma's replicator wands? I didn't know you missed me so much!"

Sky, standing just to her right, let out a surprisingly loud snort of laughter, making the newcomer's uneasy smirk settle into a pleased grin. The rest of the Pearls just looked on in a mixture of exasperation and amusement.

"She replaced me," Yellow said blankly, though it was a silly thing to say when she'd known it for quite a while already. And she wasn't bothered by the _replacing_ so much as the complete lack of difference between them.

"Replaced?" the other Pearl repeated, straightening up and locking her arms behind her back, nose turned up in a way that was uncannily reminiscent of how Yellow had stood next to her Diamond. "I'm offended that you could even think such a thing!" she said, pitching her voice exactly like Yellow's. "I'm _clearly_ an upgrade. I mean, look at this. Gray? _Really?_ Who authorized such terrible fashion sense?"

Yellow just stared at her, and Blue looked ready to say something, but Crimson spoke first.

"Cut the act, Caddy. You're making them uncomfortable."

Her eyes slid sideways, losing the spark of showy confidence. "Sorry," she said, voice relaxing with her posture. She dipped into a small bow towards Yellow, smiling. "Just kidding. Definitely a replacement. Nice to meet you, I'm Cadmium. You can call me Caddy though—we're basically the same gem, so I figure we already know each other pretty well!"

Yellow kept on staring. "What in the cosmos is _wrong_ with you?"

"Whatever's wrong with you, most likely," she replied cheerfully.

Sky poked Caddy's gem in mock annoyance, fighting back a smile. "I apologize, she's not usually this bad. Well, she _is_ , but…"

"Okay, okay, I'll stop," she laughed. "I didn't mean to freak her out, honestly."

"You didn't," Yellow returned defensively. "I'm just surprised. I can't believe Yellow Diamond puts up with…that!"

"Well, I think I do a pretty good impression of you, but you're welcome to give me some pointers," Caddy said with a smirk. "I mostly just, you know, stand around looking smug and superior, follow the rules, pretend I don't know how to have fun? Give my _luminous Diamond_ what she expects and all."

"That is not what I did!" Yellow retorted, turning to Blue for backup only to find her making a funny half-coughing, half-laughing noise beside her. "It's _not!_ "

She patted Yellow's arm in a placating manner. "Well, you don't _anymore._ " Blue looked at Caddy, eyes bright with laughter. "It _was_ a good impression," she admitted. "Almost as good as the original."

"Thanks. You're Blue's old one, huh?" Caddy said appreciatively. She looked between Blue and Sky, appraising the differences. "My Diamond's always so _uncreative._ Sky at least got a teensy redesign but I'm stuck with these silly hand-me-down socks." She turned her attention back to Yellow. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Yellow."

"Oh my _stars_ , I give up. I'm destined for mediocrity."

"Excuse me?" Yellow asked indignantly.

" _Cadmium_ ," Crimson warned her.

"Okay, fine, I'm going," Caddy said breezily.

"You don't have to leave, just—"

"No, really, I've gotta go deliver some info, so I'll see you around." Caddy flashed a quick smile at the group as a whole before sweeping her arm up to link with Sky's and pulling her out the door. "Bye!"

"I should probably go too," Aura sighed after a moment. "Millie will need some help interpreting. Thank you for the tea though. It really was lovely."

"You're welcome."

"Maybe we could have some together one day," she offered to Yellow, clearly trying to cheer her up. "You could show me your favorites."

"Sure," Yellow agreed, not mentioning that she hadn't actually tried enough of it to have any favorites.

"It'll be wonderful." Aura hurried to the east door. "I'll see you later."

"See you," Blue called. "Do you want to go back to our room for a bit?" she asked Yellow gently.

"I think I'd rather finish this," she answered bluntly.

"Okay."

"Caddy doesn't mean any harm," Chroma said quietly, handing her the next piece she needed. "I think you just took her by surprise."

Yellow frowned. "She didn't know we were coming?"

"Well, she _knew_ , but just in the general sense that you'd be here fairly soon. With the Diamonds' Pearls, it's hard to keep them in the loop all the time, you know? They have to be more careful than everyone else."

She couldn't imagine a gem like that being _careful_ , but she could see the logic there.

"Well," Yellow sighed, "I guess it's kind of a relief she's so different from me. I thought…"

"Oh," Blue said. "Stars no, not all of Yellow Diamond's Pearls have had the same personality. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were worried about that, or I would have said."

"It's alright." She wiped her hands clean, then paused. "So there've been _more_ like Cadmium?" she asked incredulously.

"Now _that_ ," Blue laughed, "I'm not so sure about."

* * *

Two pairs of ballet flats fell into a soft, familiar pattern as Sky and Caddy made their way out of communications and through the halls to their own room.

"You can go ahead and say it."

"Say what?" Sky asked.

"You're going to lecture me."

"I don't _lecture._ "

"You do too," Caddy argued. "Very short lectures. You do that cute little pout thing and look disappointed in me and then you say 'Cadmium, you need to dial it back.'"

Sky's face flushed. "One, I do not _pout_ —"

"Do too."

"And two, you _do_ need to dial it back."

"See? There we go. The trifecta."

"Shush."

"You forgot to use my full name."

"Are you alright?"

"What?" Caddy asked, taken aback.

"Are you alright?" Sky repeated.

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay," she murmured. "Just checking. You seem a little…"

"You're worrying too much."

"I'm _supposed_ to worry about you, Cadmium. You're important to me."

Caddy's words caught in her throat and she shook her head, tapping the back of her hand lightly against Sky's gem. "Thanks."

She opened up their unmarked door with a simple swipe across the panel beside it, letting Sky enter first before following.

"Caddy," Sky said, intercepting her before she could get more than a few steps inside.

"What?"

"You're allowed to be upset," Sky said softly.

"Well, I don't _want_ to be upset," she said, frustrated. "There's no point. It's not like I didn't _know._ "

"It's different seeing her in person."

"Yeah," Caddy agreed reluctantly. "And I can tell it bothers her too, and I didn't know what to do, so I just made it into this whole—" She groaned, hands tangling in her hair. "I'm such an idiot!"

"You are _not_ , Cadmium." Sky's voice was firm, if quiet. "It's overwhelming, meeting the Pearl before you."

"Shouldn't be different from meeting any other Pearl," she said dismissively. "I mean, present company excluded," she added with a wink. "You're special."

" _Caddy._ "

"What? Too much?"

"Yes, with _her_ ," Sky replied, trying and failing to make Caddy look her in the eyes. "I'm used to you. Yellow isn't."

"Sorry," she muttered halfheartedly. "I was trying to…play it down, I guess. And it's not like anybody warned me she was there."

"I would have if I had the chance," she said apologetically. "But I only met them yesterday, and I didn't get to see you until just now."

"It's okay. Not your fault." She paused. "Wait a sec, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"You and Blue. What was that like?"

"I mean, it was…awkward." Sky cleared her throat uncomfortably. "But it was fine, I guess."

"I should have been there," she muttered. "If my stupid Diamond could have just—"

"It's okay. Crimson made sure to check on me."

"Oh. Cool." Caddy reached up to tug at the ruffles on her shoulder, then abruptly snapped her hand back to her side. "Sorry I wasn't around though. Can I give you a belated hug?"

"That sounds great." Sky wrapped her arms around Caddy snugly, smiling as she was squeezed tight in return. "Thanks."

"Mm-hm." She didn't let go right away.

"Caddy," Sky repeated softly, "are you okay? Really?"

Caddy faltered, uneasily meeting Sky's eyes as they separated. "I…I guess. I don't know. It's weird."

"I know." She touched Caddy's arm lightly. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Nah, don't worry about me. I'll bounce back." She ruffled Sky's ponytail. "Can I borrow your hair?"

"Anytime," Sky said with a faint smile.

Caddy immediately shapeshifted into the more fluffy, relaxed hairstyle, some of the tension leaving her face. "Thanks. And, uh, thanks for asking too."

"You're welcome."

The other Pearl looked like she wanted to say something else, but it wasn't quite making its way past her lips.

"Don't make me repeat your own advice back to you," Sky teased gently.

She lowered her eyes. "I don't…"

"It doesn't matter who came before you or what you look like. You're Caddy. Cadmium. You're valuable all on your own."

Her lip looked wobbly as she murmured another quiet "thanks" but her voice was steady. "What clever gem came up with that, huh?" she asked lightly, drawing in a quick breath and putting a smile on again.

"Just a good friend of mine," Sky returned warmly.

"Hmm." Caddy ran a hand down Sky's arm, catching her fingers briefly and squeezing them. "So," she said brightly as she let go and plopped down on one of the beds to make herself comfortable, "on a scale of one to ten, how much am I succeeding at annoying my half of the legendary duo?"

"Solid ten."

"Stars, I'll have to try harder."


	30. Chapter 30

" _Who's ready for some training?_ "

Silver would probably be shouting it if she could, Blue thought with amusement.

"Ten minutes," Yellow insisted.

" _Ten?_ " Silver dropped down to her knees, arms looping over Chroma's shoulders from behind as she frowned at Yellow. " _Ten minutes before I can fight the Renegade?_ "

"Sil, I can't see what I'm doing _or_ what you're saying if you project there," Chroma laughed, batting her gem hand away from her face. "Something about your crush on the Renegade?"

" _I know you're trying to embarrass me, but you can't, this is the fourth best day of my life! I get to spar with her in ten minutes!_ "

"It doesn't sound nearly as impressive if you say _fourth_ ," she teased. "And have you even asked Pearl if she wants to?"

"If I want to what?" Pearl asked as the Crystal Gems came in to join them.

" _Fight me!_ " Silver said earnestly, jumping to her feet again.

She looked rather taken aback.

" _Oh, I mean spar with me. Training._ " Silver waved her hand, making her projections wobble for a second. " _Sorry, the lack of tone gets problematic at times._ "

"No need to apologize," Pearl said quickly. "And I'd be happy to."

"Me too, I wanna see what you guys can do," Amethyst agreed.

"Pearl first," Garnet said with a smile. "Then the rest of us can take turns."

"Me too?" Steven asked hopefully.

"You too."

"Yay!"

"Garnet," Pearl began warningly.

"He'll be fine. They can learn a lot from each other."

"Is everybody coming?" Steven asked.

" _Yeah, it's usually the whole base at once_ ," Silver said. " _Everybody set to go?_ "

"Yes, yes, we can go now," Chroma relented, Yellow reluctantly following suit as she stood up.

" _Yes! Let's head over!_ "

The rest of the Pearls were already moving too, save Aura, who had been working near Chroma with a small screen in hand.

"Yo, Aura, you coming?" Amethyst asked, clapping a friendly hand on her shoulder.

Aura gasped and flinched away so quickly she nearly fell out of her chair.

"Oh, shoot, sorry. Are you okay?"

"N-No. I mean, yes. No to the original question. I'm sorry." She pressed her hand to her stomach. "Silver, it's fine." The other Pearl had immediately placed herself between Aura and Amethyst protectively.

" _You sure?_ "

Aura nodded.

" _Okay._ " Her posture relaxed as she moved aside, though she kept an eye on the two of them.

"Sorry," Aura said, eyes flicking back and forth nervously as she addressed Amethyst. "You surprised me."

"No, it's cool, I won't do it again."

"Thanks…" She made herself move a little closer. "I can't fight," she added quietly. "Or go to training or anything. I promise I'm not just slacking." A faint smile graced her lips.

"Oh, sorry."

Aura shook her head. "It's alright. And, yeah, if you could try not to surprise me, I'd really appreciate it. It's just going to take me a little while to get used to having a Quartz—um, two Quartzes—around. I promise it's nothing you've done though."

"Oh. Yeah, I hear you." Amethyst looked away, chastened.

"Maybe…we could do something after training?" Aura suggested. "You could show me some more food? Steven said you like it."

"Yeah, sounds cool."

She smiled brightly, all traces of fear evaporating into warmth and making Amethyst blush. "I can't wait!"

"I'm not sure Silver can either," Chroma said dryly. "Is it alright if we go now?"

"Yeah, of course! Have fun, be safe." Aura gave both her and Silver a hug.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Viri interrupted. "We should go to the forge first!"

" _Viriiiiiii._ "

"Azalea might have some new weapons for us to try out, plus we promised them a tour," she pointed out.

" _Fine_ ," Silver said with a little sigh. " _Forge, then training. I'll make sure everything's ready in the meantime._ "

"Okay! The forge is right over here!" Viri said cheerfully, leading the way back towards one end of the living halls, though she stopped at a door they hadn't seen yet. She knocked and then pressed once on the panel to make it swish open.

The group was immediately assaulted by a wave of heat which swept from the warmly lit room ahead of them. The temperature control systems immediately compensated for the change in the hallway, but there was still a steady warmth that escaped before it could be extinguished—not quite a comfortable temperature, but manageable for gems.

"Come in, come in," Viri urged everyone.

Pearl passed Steven a water bottle as they followed her, watching for a moment to make sure he drank some before directing her attention to the forge around them.

It hadn't originally been a forge, Blue could tell, but it was quickly becoming one. The room seemed much more full than other ones like the common room because of all the tools and metals and weapons gathered in different areas. A comfortable kind of messy.

There was an excess of scrap metal piled on one side of the room, pulled from all sorts of things the rebellion must have scavenged. Beside that, a neater shelving unit housed metal that had already been melted down and rested in blocks, ready to be used. Multiple benches and worktables—these clearly duplicated—were scattered about and held completed or near-completed swords of all lengths, and all suited to the hands of a Pearl—the long delicate fingers that would toughen with practice as Blue and Yellow's had begun to.

The only Pearl in the room, who Viri greeted with a happy "Azalea!", was pink in color but still managed to fit perfectly with her surroundings. Her skin was dusted with the sooty evidence of her work as she paused in her hammering and tiny embers danced in the ponytail gathered up on her head.

"Everybody, this is Azalea." Viri waited for the other Pearl to set her work aside and then pulled gently at her hand to get her to take a few steps forward to join her. "She's our blacksmith."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Pearl offered.

Azalea gave them a tiny nod. "Nice to meet you," she said softly.

Viri placed a steady hand on her back. "She makes all our swords for training. She's really great at it!"

"I'm…"

"Come see." Viri ran to one of the tables displaying the swords and picked up one, two, three. "This one's single edged, this one's double edged, and ooh, this one's neat, I haven't seen it yet! Can I try using it today?"

Azalea blushed deeply, nodding. "Yeah."

"Thank you!" She swung it around a little excitedly. "I love the weight, it's got good balance."

She smiled as she watched Viri, nervously readjusting her ponytail and then the straps on her apron.

"Oh, and you put my name on it!" Viri exclaimed, noticing the inscription.

"Yeah." Azalea's laugh was soft and melodic. "It was supposed to be a present…"

"Really?"

"Mmhm."

"Oh! So do you want to wait and give it to me on our date then?"

"No, you can take it now," she said shyly. "For training."

"Aww, you're the sweetest." Viri leaned down to plant a kiss on her cheek. "Mind if these guys take a look at your other creations?"

"O-Oh, sure…" Face bright pink, she turned her attention to the table. "Um, what are you looking for? If I don't have what you need, I can make that next. I'm sure you've all seen much better handiwork back in the day, but I'll do my best."

"Oh, no, you don't need to go out of your way for us," Blue said quickly. "We can all summon; we just wanted to take a look around."

"And your handiwork is lovely, actually. I'd be interested in commissioning a pair of swords from you sometime," Pearl said, running her finger down one of the finished ones. "It might just be nostalgia, but I'd like to have some for this rebellion."

"It would be an honor," Azalea said, eyes wide with surprise. "Just…you know, let me know what you'd like."

"Thank you."

"Can you show us your summoned weapons?" Viri asked, wrapping an arm around Azalea's shoulders and ignoring the soot that began to transfer to her skin instantly. "Az's been really excited to see."

"Certainly," Pearl said, pulling out her spear smoothly and laying it carefully across Azalea's work table.

"Oh," Azalea breathed softly. "It's beautiful. May I…?" She pointed, and Pearl nodded, so she picked it up in her hands to examine the twist near the blade.

As she was looking, the others summoned their weapons too, watching as she gave Pearl's spear a few experimental swipes through the air.

"Mine's similar," Blue said, offering her spear next.

"It's different," Azalea murmured, one in each hand. "O-Oh, um, I don't mean to be rude, just…they're made differently. Summoned differently? That." She looked it over once more curiously and then moved to take up Yellow's swords. Confusion immediately swept over her face.

"Are they supposed to be like that?" Viri asked, leaning over her shoulder.

"Yes," Yellow said defensively as Azalea poked at the curved ends.

"Really? Can I see how you use them later?"

"Uh, sure."

"Great!"

Yellow couldn't help but smile a bit at her enthusiasm.

Azalea hesitated as she reached Amethyst's whip, winding it carefully around her hand to see what it was like.

"Guess it's not really what you're into," Amethyst said lightly.

"N-No, it's…" She bit her lip. "It's nice. Seeing different kinds of weapons…"

Amethyst grinned.

She was telling the truth, because there was very little awkwardness as she handed the whip back and moved to take one of Garnet's hands so she could see her gauntlets.

"Cool," Azalea said finally, smiling as she let go.

"And mine!" Steven offered her his weapon. "Do you make shields too?"

"I'm…practicing, yeah. Not quite there yet."

"Yeah, I bet it would be different from swords," he said. "Do you let people come watch you make them?"

Azalea looked taken aback. "I guess if you want to."

He nodded eagerly.

"We'll all hang out together and watch," Viri decided, crouching down to look at Steven's shield as well. "It'll be really fun."

The group stuck around a little longer, admiring a few more pieces of Azalea's work, before making their way back to the training room with Viri leading the way, a small skip in her step.

"See you later, Azalea! Thanks for the sword!"

"No problem," she said, smiling softly. "See you."

* * *

" _Can I please, please, please spar with you now?_ " Silver asked Pearl as soon as they'd all gathered back up to train.

"Well, I'd like to see what everyone can do first but…" Pearl reached up to her gem. "I suppose there's no harm in a one-on-one to warm up."

Silver was dazzled by the spear drawn from Pearl's gem and rocked up onto the balls of her feet briefly in anticipation. " _Yes please._ "

"What rules do you usually go by?"

" _No gem contact, and nothing that'll cause enough damage to dissipate anyone or take them out of practice._ "

"Good," Pearl said approvingly. "And weaponry?"

" _Use whatever you've got._ "

"Really?"

" _I mean, that's what a real fight would be like, right?_ "

"That's true," she admitted. "Well, since it's the first time, I'll only use my spear."

" _Alright! I'm happy to take a handicap if it's with the Renegade._ " Silver clapped her hands together loudly to psych herself up, taking a few steps back to put some distance between them. " _Ready to go?_ "

"Whenever you're ready."

" _Okay!_ " She grinned. " _Fair warning, I can't really project while I'm fighting. You can pretend I'm saying something witty._ "

Pearl laughed. "I'll do my best."

" _Alright, here goes._ "

Blue had expected Silver to take a moment before initiating the start of the sparring match, but she ran right in without an ounce of hesitation, hair whisked back as she rushed forward and threw an easy right hook. Pearl blocked it effortlessly with one arm, but Silver was already grabbing for Pearl's spear, wrenching it outward and knocking the handle end into Pearl's stomach.

She couldn't keep ahold of it for long, Pearl leveraging it back into her control and stabbing out with it as it locked between the two of them, making Silver jump back to avoid the point. She ducked back under Pearl's arm smoothly, coming back up behind her and sweeping her leg out to knock her off balance. Pearl used her spear to guide her leap out of range, landing en pointe a few feet away before switching to more offensive tactics.

Pearl launched into a series of spear slashes that Silver had to dodge rapidly, ducking and darting in and out to try and land some kind of hit in the miniscule spaces between attacks. She was trying to go for the spear again too, but Pearl easily kept hold of her weapon, switching hands or twirling it away whenever Silver started to get near to grabbing it.

"You can do it, Silver!" Chroma called from the sidelines.

"Yeah, go Silver!" Steven cheered alongside her. "And Pearl! You're both doing great!"

The two of them were at a stalemate for nearly five more minutes, falling into steady but not repetitive attacks, dodges, and rebounds. Then, after dodging one strike, Silver whipped around to get behind Pearl and yanked on the ribbon around her waist. With a simultaneous blow to the legs to knock her off balance, Silver was able wrestle the spear out of her grip in the few seconds of confusion.

But Pearl was up again right away before she could fully hit the ground, rolling to her feet and neatly dodging her own spear a few times before lunging forward to retrieve it. She spun sideways, placing her hand on it for mere seconds and lighting it up with a hot charge that startled Silver out of holding it. Pearl immediately stopped the white light from coalescing at the tip of the spear as she danced out of reach again.

Silver's face was flushed with excitement as she ran for Pearl again, deftly avoiding the majority of the spear stabs. One sliced a cut into the side of her leotard—not deep, barely enough to nick her skin—and the fabric immediately shifted back into place unconsciously as she swung to try and catch Pearl in the stomach. She missed and went into a rapid-fire series of attacks, steady on her feet as she darted all around Pearl trying to find an opening.

She'd just gotten one hit in when suddenly Pearl snapped her spear out, the handle knocking Silver back and interrupting enough for Pearl to grab her and send her straight to the ground. Silver fell hard, straight onto her back, and Pearl spun her spear once before aiming it down and letting the tip rest lightly on Silver's chest.

"Good job," she said.

Silver grinned, clearly exhausted despite her lack of breathing which hid any more telling evidence. " _Thanks_ ," she projected, sliding out from under the spear as Pearl began to withdraw it.

"Do you usually spar without any weapons?"

" _Nah, I use swords all the time in training. I just like this way better if I've got a choice._ "

"Well, your strength is quite remarkable. You're self-taught?"

Silver made a kind of so-so gesture in the air. " _Yeah. Crimson and I learned together._ "

"Ah. In that case, I hope we can arrange a similar match in the future then," Pearl said to Crimson.

"It'd be a pleasure."

" _Who's next?_ " Silver asked eagerly, looking at the rest of the Crystal Gems. " _Can we see how you guys fight too?_ "

"Why don't we save that for later?" Crimson said, stretching and standing up. "They need to know where we're at first so we can figure out what to focus on. And make sparring a bit safer, since, well…I especially don't think any of us are going to be a match for a fusion."

"Maybe not right now," Garnet said, giving her a small smile. "But let's see what you've got." She picked up a sword from the corner and tossed it to Crimson, who snatched it out of the air just before it flew past her.

"You want to spar with me?" she asked, surprised. "And—wait, how did you know this was mine?"

"Future vision!" Steven chimed in.

"Yep." Garnet placed a hand on his head. "Are you up for it?"

"Sure."

"And Silver can spar with me!" Amethyst volunteered.

" _Fantastic!_ "

Pearl sighed. "I suppose we can just call it sparring matches for this practice then."

"We'll get to regular training next time," Crimson said apologetically.

"Yes, that's fine, that's fine. I'll just observe for the time being to get an idea of your skill levels."

" _Then I'll have the others start some basic sparring as well?_ " Silver suggested.

"Sounds good."

" _Great! You guys can mingle with everyone if you want too_ ," she added to Blue, Yellow, and Steven.

Blue nodded, looking around the room at all the unfamiliar Pearls.

"You have a spear, right?" Crimson asked lightly. "Viri might be a good match to start with, since you'll both have longer weapons."

"Oh, thank you," Blue said gratefully. "I'll do that."

"And I'm sorry, I don't know what you wield," she added, turning to Yellow.

"Swords," she answered quickly. "Hook swords."

"You'll fit right in then," Crimson said with a smile. "Maybe Chroma, since you two seem like you'll be working together?"

"Sure."

"And I have a shield," Steven offered.

"Oh, that'll be a nice change of pace. How about you and…Sky?" She waved for the other Pearl to come a bit closer. "That sound okay?"

"That sounds great," Sky said, smiling down at him warmly. "I'll do my best."

"Me too!"

They all split into their separate pairs, spreading out across the room while leaving a gap in the center where Garnet and Crimson and Amethyst and Silver could fight.

It was hard staying focused on Viri when there was so much to see all around them, but Blue did her best to pay attention. Viri's fighting style was different from Yellow's or Pearl's, relying more on strength than dexterity, though the latter certainly wasn't lacking. The large surface area of Viri's gem made Blue rather uncomfortable directing too many strikes towards her chest, so she aimed primarily for Viri's legs.

"You don't have to be so careful," the tall Pearl said as she dodged another strike.

"I don't trust my accuracy yet," Blue admitted. "It's not because I'm trying to go easy on you."

"Oh, okay! You _do_ go for a lot more swishy stuff than stabby stuff."

Blue nodded, laughing.

"Hmm, let me think who's good at accuracy…" They both slowed to a halt as Viri considered it. "Oh, I know, Caddy! I think she left already but…Sky!" She waved wildly across the room to get Sky's attention.

The blue Pearl turned at the sound of her name, Steven's borrowed sword glancing off her arm when he couldn't change its course in time. Sky winced but kept her attention on Viri. "Yeah?" she called back.

"Is Caddy coming back today?"

"No, but she should be here again tomorrow!"

"Okay, thanks!" Viri paused, then got up on her tiptoes unnecessarily to call out again. "Can you come over here?"

"Sure!" Sky slipped between sparring matches until she got over to Viri. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized Blue was there too, then traveled over the summoned spear curiously.

"You should take a turn with Blue," Viri encouraged her. "I bet you can learn a lot from each other. Look how cool her spear is!"

"I…" She glanced up at Viri, then quickly back down again. "Yeah."

"We don't have to," Blue said hastily. "You already had a partner."

"It's—"

Sky was cut off by a sudden scream off to their left, and all activity in the room screeched to a halt as well.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, are you okay?" An orange Pearl with a large fluffy ponytail dropped her sword with a clatter, making her opponent—a yellow-orange Pearl sporting oddly heavy clothing—jump another step back. Her arms were clutched around her stomach.

" _What's going on?_ " Silver asked, immediately out of her own sparring match and beside them. " _Citrine, are you hurt?_ " Blue did a double take at the name—she'd chosen to call herself another gem type? " _Let me see._ "

"Back off," she snarled. "She didn't hit me."

" _I want to make sure._ " Silver reached out to try and get a look at the damage, but Citrine immediately smacked her hand away, hit glancing off her gem. Silver's eyes flashed angrily.

"I said leave me alone! And tell this—this nameless pebble to be more careful! She's a terrible training partner!"

" _Well—_ "

"Citrine," Crimson intercepted smoothly, her hand falling lightly on Silver's wrist to signal her to stop projecting for a minute, "why don't you call it a day? Go by the infirmary if you need to."

"I don't need to. _Yet._ " She shot another glare at the orange Pearl, then walked straight for the door.

"I-I really am sorry!" the Pearl called after her. Then, to Crimson, "I'm sorry. I didn't know it would scare her like that, she just—"

"It's okay," she reassured her. "It was just an accident."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Crimson repeated. "Let her cool off and then you can try to talk to her. Come on, I'll spar with you for a bit in the meantime."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Garnet, can we finish up another time?"

"Yeah, no worries."

As Crimson and the other Pearl made their way to an open space, the rest of the Pearls in the room slowly began resuming their matches as well. Blue, likewise, turned back around, only to find that Sky had disappeared.

"She's always going back and forth between here and court," Viri reassured her when she saw the concern on Blue's face. "Honestly, it's weirder if she _doesn't_ take off without warning at least once a day."

"Oh. Alright." It still felt like something was wrong, but Blue was fairly certain there wasn't anything she could do about it if it was. "Want a round two?" she asked Viri.

"I'd love that."

* * *

By the time Crimson had finished her unexpectedly intense sparring match with the Pearl without a name, she needed a breather. Taking a moment to sit down, she let her eyes wander around the training room to check on everyone. Silver and Blue were sparring now, and Viri and Yellow. Garnet and Amethyst both seemed to be working their way through different partners as well and, thankfully, tempering their attacks depending on each Pearl's skill.

Someone was missing though, after a second glance over the room, and Crimson quickly stood and made her way out to the hall. Maybe she was worrying too much, but it couldn't hurt to check.

"Sky?"

The other Pearl was standing a little ways down the hall, back pressed flat against the wall like she was trying to keep herself upright. Slow tears dripped from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks and then hovered at her chin before falling. She looked startled when Crimson said her name.

"What's wrong?" Crimson asked gently, taking her hand and easing her away from the wall and towards her room.

Sky shook her head, trailing obediently after her.

"If you don't want to see Blue, you don't have to," she said softly as she closed the door behind them and let go. "Sky."

"It's not that. She seems nice."

"But you don't like her."

"Of course I like her!" Sky said quickly. "She's—She's amazing. _Everyone_ likes her."

"Well, personally I was going to withhold judgement until I actually get to know her," Crimson replied, gesturing for Sky to take a seat. "But yes, I suppose she is. What's the matter?"

"I don't know." Sky blinked quickly, hugging herself in a way that made her slender shoulders look even more fragile. "I guess because she's just as amazing as I expected and I'm…not."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Crimson asked, voice sharp.

Sky winced. "She's brave and she's free and she's spent her whole life giving everybody else hope. I don't know how to follow that. I-I don't even feel any _connection_ to her now that we've met, because I'm new and I never saw her projections myself and I didn't have to wait to be part of the rebellion and—" She broke off, voice wavering. "I'm nothing like her. I don't know how to be like her."

"No one expects you to be like Blue."

" _Everyone_ expects me to be like Blue!" she shot back before catching herself, lowering her eyes once more, and murmuring a quiet, "I'm sorry. But they do."

"Why do you think that?" Crimson asked, eyebrows raised.

"They all talk about her, or—or show me her stories or…" Sky scrubbed a hand across her eyes. "I wish they'd just _say it_ , but they don't, and I feel like I'm disappointing them."

"That's not true."

Sky stretched her legs out and pointed her toes, looking like she wanted to leave.

"Sky. It isn't."

"Yes, it is. Even _you_ do it."

Crimson stared at her, startled. "I do what?"

"Never mind."

"No, I want to know what you mean."

Sky hesitated, hands wringing in her lap. "I mean…I know it's different now that we actually know each other. But her projections were really inspiring for you and that's the whole reason you came to recruit us, isn't it?"

"Sky, no," Crimson said, shocked. "I never expected you to—Yes, of course part of it was strategic, but I never wanted you to make you feel like you were being compared to her. You're not Blue, and that's a _good_ thing." When Sky didn't say anything, she touched her cheek lightly to get her to look up. "We share the projections because that's our history. It's not a lot, but it's ours—the Renegade and Blue and Yellow and…and us right now too. It doesn't matter where we've all come from, because we've got something in common. There was never meant to be any ulterior motive behind the others sharing that with you, I'm sure. There certainly wasn't with me."

"I'm still…" Sky swiped at her eyes. "I wish I could do more for everyone."

"You're doing plenty," Crimson murmured. "I promise."

"I spend more time with Blue Diamond than I do here," she whispered.

"And that gives us valuable insight that we couldn't have without you," she reassured her. "That's important. Don't minimize your own efforts."

"I know…"

"I honor your service," Crimson said softly. " _Yours._ You're wonderful and dedicated and I look forward to the day when you can stay here and just be yourself."

"Thank you," Sky managed tearfully.

"I'm sorry I didn't consider how you must feel when your predecessors left behind such a big legacy. But I promise, that is not why I want you here."

She nodded, unfurling one hand and watching Crimson's settle reassuringly firm in her palm. Sky smiled, faint but sincere, and Crimson's gaze didn't waver.

"My Diamond might call me back soon," Sky murmured after a few long moments. "I should get cleaned up."

"Here," she offered, drawing a small cloth from her gem. "It's not exactly a handkerchief, but it's clean," she said, pressing it into Sky's hand.

"Thanks," she said quietly.

"You're welcome." She gave Sky a moment to wipe her face.

"Um…" She looked down at the cloth, not sure what to do with it.

"You can hold onto it," Crimson said easily. "I have more."

"For the long line of Pearls having crying fits in the hallway?" Sky asked wryly, fingers curling around it carefully.

"Aha, there's your sense of humor." She smiled. "Yes, for purposes including but not limited to crying Pearls. Keep it."

"Thank you," she said, managing a small smile in return as she folded it up into a neat square. "I'll see you soon?"

"I'd like that." Crimson gave her a quick hug before walking her to the door. "Tell Caddy I expect her to take good care of you."

Sky laughed quietly. "She always does."

"I know. See you soon. Be safe."

"You too. Thanks, Crimson."


	31. Chapter 31

The way time passed at the rebellion's base felt odd after so long of Earth's days and nights. Here, everything ran together, Steven's sleeping schedule the only thing that helped Blue and Yellow get a sense of how the days came and went.

"It might be good to rest a little bit every day," Blue said as she stretched her arms the next morning.

"You want to sleep all the time?" Yellow asked. Sure, it had refreshed her after yesterday's long training session, but she had no desire to waste that much of her day keeping her eyes closed, however cozy it was with Blue beside her.

"No, not all the time," Blue laughed, sitting up as she watched Yellow slip out of bed. "Just a few minutes. An hour maybe. I'm too excited about being here to sleep _that_ much time away."

Yellow smiled to herself as she moved to a table, starting to take out the remaining pieces of the detector field she'd told Chroma she would finish when they'd gotten interrupted yesterday. She could see how much Blue was liking this place, how wonderfully new and adventurous everything seemed to her. Yellow liked it too, but Blue…well, this had been her dream for all those years, hadn't it?

"Part of it's just that I like having our own space," Blue added. "The only time we've ever gotten that was our trip to Earth."

"This _is_ a marked improvement." Yellow sat down sideways in the chair, twisted to look at Blue. "I suppose it couldn't hurt to spend some time in here on a regular basis."

"I can't wait," she said happily. Her attention drifted to the technology laid out in front of Yellow. "Are you going to work on that now?"

"I was planning on it," she said, noticing Blue's expectant gaze. "Why?"

"I was kind of hoping we could stay in bed and keep improving those cuddling skills we were working on," she suggested.

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of time for that in the future."

She smiled. "Definitely. I have something for you now though."

"From where? We only just got here."

Blue laughed, getting out of bed and taking a quick step forward. "From _me_ ," she said, placing a kiss on Yellow's lips. "There you go."

"Ah." An embarrassed blush rose to her cheeks. "Thanks. I guess we could continue our cuddling if you insist."

"Oh?" she teased. "You're going to make me insist?"

"Isn't that what you're already doing?" Yellow gave Blue a gentle poke in the side, making her laugh. "I did say I'd work on this though," she added. "So it can't be too long of a break."

"You can work first," Blue said quickly. "I won't be a distraction unless you want me to be."

"I don't mind it, I just…" Yellow rubbed at her shoulder, frowning. "I want to make sure I get this right."

She smiled, leaning in to kiss her again, this time on the cheek. "You are. You're making friends already, and I'm really happy for you."

Yellow smiled faintly. "Yeah, I guess I'm doing okay," she murmured.

"Definitely." Blue flitted away to pull another chair up to the table, placing it side by side with Yellow's and sitting herself down.

"It's alright?"

"Mm-hm."

"You're still welcome to distract me afterwards."

"Oh, I will," she laughed.

Yellow looked pleased as she began to take up her work again. "What about you?" she asked after a moment, noticing the small furrow in Blue's brow.

"Hm?"

"How are you doing? With what's-her-name who's avoiding you and all? Cyan?"

"Cyan?"

"Wait, wrong blue Pearl. The other one." She searched her mind, trying to recall the right name.

"Sky," she supplied, giving Yellow a reproachful look.

"I nearly got it," Yellow said defensively. "So is that what you're thinking so hard about? You and Sky?"

"Kind of," she admitted with a little sigh. "I've been trying to remember how I felt about the Pearl before me."

"Oh." It hadn't ever really occurred to Yellow that there had been another Blue once. No, that was wrong, she corrected herself immediately. There had been another Pearl who served Blue Diamond.

"And—And it's kind of scaring me that I _don't_ feel anything."

"Well, it's not like you met her."

"But," Blue shook her head, "I don't know, I feel like I should feel something? But I don't. Just curiosity at most."

"Well…"

"I used to think about her, when I was newer," she said softly. "But even then…it wasn't as a gem really. I have no idea what she was like. Nobody ever told me. And she—she lived a long time too. And no one…"

 _No one remembers her._ She could see how much that bothered Blue—Blue, who tried to remember everyone.

"I asked Pearl, but she wasn't really able to help. I guess the Diamonds' Pearls didn't spend as much time together back then."

Yellow nodded. She would try to offer some kind of hopeful condolence, but there were none that would be true. Blue would probably never know anything about the Pearl that came before her. Aside from Pearl, none of them lived long enough to have been there. And other gems who did would never remember her either, even if they were by some stretch of the imagination willing to tell.

"Anyway," Blue continued quietly before Yellow could find anything to say, "I was trying to put myself in Sky's shoes, that's all."

"I thought you didn't like shoes."

A small, surprised giggle escaped Blue's mouth, and Yellow was happy to have caused it. "Not really."

"There you go then."

Blue's smile lingered on her lips, though it softened a little as the seconds passed. "You're right," she decided finally. "I shouldn't expect to find common ground just based on what gem we served. That's…I don't know what to call it, but it's not right, especially not for rebel Pearls. I'll try to find other ways to get to know her when she's ready."

"You do realize I didn't say any of that, right?"

"Well, you helped me figure it out all the same. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Yellow touched her cheek to make her lean forward for a kiss and she did. "You'll be alright?"

"Yes," Blue murmured happily as she sank into Yellow's embrace and let her sprinkle gentle kisses all along her shoulder. "I already am."

* * *

Once she finished, and finished letting Blue distract her afterwards, Yellow reluctantly gathered everything up to take back to Chroma. On the way back from there, pleased with the smile and thank you she'd gotten from the other Pearl, she remembered that she'd wanted to ask what the rebellion could reasonably get its hands on in regards to the warp pad and turned to go by Crimson's office instead.

"You know, I think Caddy could help you with that," their leader told her, and Yellow tried not to look too annoyed as she thanked her and went to go find her in the lounge area over by the living quarters.

Deep breath. Just get it over with.

"Hey, Cadmium?"

Caddy looked up quickly from the screen she'd been using. "That's me."

Yellow looked her over briefly, taking in the changed hairstyle—she'd copied Silver's—and not knowing what to make of it. Caddy narrowed her eyes after a moment, not angry but definitely uncomfortable. Oh, Yellow probably looked like she was judging, she realized. Well, she _was_ judging, but still. No point making things worse.

"What's up?" Caddy asked when Yellow took a second too long to remember her question.

Yellow cleared her throat uneasily. "Crimson said I should ask you for information on what parts can be scavenged in central Homeworld without drawing too much attention."

"Yep, that sounds about right." She set the screen down and flicked it off. "Boss is more of a busybody than she likes to admit."

"What?"

"Crimson. She wants us to get along, so she sent you to me instead of Aura."

"Ah. So I should go find—"

"No, no, hold up, I _can_ actually help." Caddy's gem lit up, projecting a long list. "I'm not all talk. Me 'n' Sky put all this together anyway."

"Oh?" Yellow perched rigidly in the chair beside her, eyes scanning the projection.

"Mm-hm, since the Diamonds always send us on errands and stuff anyway."

"What about White?"

"Have you _met_ White?" Caddy laughed. "She'd rather just run in blind and grab whatever she can get her hands on."

"…Yes, that does make sense."

"So do you want me to write this down or anything?" she asked as she watched Yellow's eyes flicker over the list.

"I'll remember."

"Okay." Caddy drummed her fingers lightly against her chair.

Yellow looked over the projection one last time and nodded curtly. "Thanks."

"Sure." She smiled. "Sorry I was a little over the top last time. I wasn't trying to make you feel weird. Or, well, not _that_ much. I was aiming for, like, moderate no-harm-meant teasing. I usually learn my audience better first."

"Thank you, I think?"

"Mm-hm." Caddy looked her over. "So…?" she said when Yellow made no move to leave right away. "Is it just me, or is this uniform the worst thing ever?"

Yellow tilted her head, taken aback by the sudden topic change.

"Like, who let Yellow Diamond choose anyone's clothes? She thinks those weird shoulder pads are attractive."

"I always assumed she was aiming more for _intimidating._ "

"No, no, no, if she just wanted intimidating, then she wouldn't have given us these to match _._ " Caddy tugged at the shoulder of her leotard. "She's trying to be _fancy._ "

Yellow was unable to stifle a laugh at that, and Caddy looked immensely pleased with the reaction. "Maybe so," she admitted. "Though I doubt anyone's dared to point out her poor taste either way."

"Well, yeah, nobody's gonna tell you how to dress yourself when you can zap anyone who disagrees with you," Caddy laughed. "Though I wouldn't know what to dress her in if she deigned to ask me. She _is_ the shoulder pads in my head."

Yellow snorted, then turned as she caught sight of movement behind her.

"Oh, Ory, perfect timing!" Caddy flashed a charming smile towards the Pearl who had just appeared carrying a small screen. "What do you think looks best—shoulder pads, shoulder frilly things, or neither?"

Her cheeks flushed a bright honey under her long bangs. "I-I-I, um, I-I…"

Caddy seemed to take pity on her after a few seconds of stammering and grinned as she waved the question off. "Thanks. So what's up?"

"U-Um," she squeaked out, holding up her screen.

"It's okay, take your time."

Ory looked between Caddy and Yellow, fiddling with the hem of her shawl with her free hand. She took a deep breath in. "Ch-Chroma sent a message," she said finally. Her legs crossed at the ankle, then uncrossed. "For Yellow."

"A message?" Yellow asked.

"Ory runs messages all across base," Caddy explained. "Cuz she's fast and it's better than having everybody wandering around looking for each other."

Ory's lips twitched into a happy, self-conscious smile.

"I was wondering about that," Yellow commented. "Well, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," she said earnestly. "Um, here you g-go." She held out the screen for Yellow to read. "She asked if you could meet her in the storage rooms."

"Oh, sure."

Ory nodded, glancing back at Caddy, then to Yellow again, still blushing. "Okay, I'll let her know then."

"Or I can just go over myself," Yellow said, confused.

"O-Oh, right, of course," she said, flustered.

"Well, I'll tag along too," Caddy volunteered, getting up. "You wanna walk with us or do you have another message to run?"

"I'm free," she squeaked out.

"Awesome!" She gestured for Yellow to follow, then started leading the way, her attention focused all on Ory. "Have you been settling in okay? You like your room and everything?"

"Yeah, it's all really nice," Ory said quietly, cheeks warm at the attention. "And it's nice getting to meet everyone…"

With Caddy distracted, Yellow took a moment to let her mind wander. It was interesting, seeing the other Pearl move, because while the practiced posture might be a commonality between them, the fluidity with which she conducted her movements was different, more relaxed than Yellow ever managed even now that she was out from under her Diamond's watchful eye.

And now that Caddy wasn't putting on a show, just genuinely talking to Ory, it was easy to see what she was like. And she _was_ different from Yellow. But different was good. Blue had been right, pointing out that she couldn't just look at her successor as only that—especially when Yellow had always had such a solid idea of what that would mean, an idea that had given Yellow Diamond far too much credit. They _weren't_ made as specifically as she'd always thought, and stars, she'd love to shove that in her Diamond's face.

 _We were never as predictable as you assumed us to be._

* * *

"Aaaand here we are!" Caddy declared as she reached the storage area. "Chroma, you got a two for one special!"

"I can see that," she said with a quick smile. "Hi, Caddy."

"Plus Ory because she has enough yellow on her to count," she added, pulling the other Pearl forward as well when she didn't come in right away.

"H-Hi again," Ory said quietly.

"Hi," Chroma said, eyes softening. "Good to see you."

"You too. Um, can I help with anything?"

"I'll take all the help I can get," Chroma said, gesturing to all the supplies that the Crystal Gems had brought with them. "I think first we should get all the broken warp pad pieces over to the forge so Azalea can melt them down, so if you don't mind carrying some of this over…"

"Not at all!" Ory smiled, hoisting up a piece of warp pad with a small "oomph!"

"Careful," Chroma warned her, hand falling firmly on Ory's shoulder to steady her. "You should put it in your gem if that's easier."

"O-Oh, no, it's okay, it's not too heavy," she said quickly.

"Yeah," Caddy agreed, reaching for one of her own to carry. "Might as well get an extra workout in, right?"

"That's one way to think of it," Chroma laughed. "Silver will be pleased to hear you're being so proactive."

"Maybe if I look like her, I start to think like her," she said with a grin, shaking her head to show off her hair as she picked up a piece of warp pad. "What do you think? Want another gem to date?"

"I only need one Silver, thanks," she said, ruffling Caddy's hair playfully.

"What about two Auras? Or would that be cuteness overload?"

"It'd be cuteness overload with two of either one. You just keep being you, okay? Though that _does_ look good on you."

"Thank you for that wonderfully biased opinion," Caddy said cheerfully.

"You're welcome. Now get a move on." Chroma nudged her towards the door.

Yellow had picked up an armful of materials as they'd talked, and she followed the others out, glancing over her shoulder briefly at Chroma. She nearly asked why she _hadn't_ just stuck everything in her gem and moved it herself but then thought better of it, stopping the question from escaping just in time. Instead, she turned it into a different one. "So where will we be installing the warp pad?"

Chroma hurried to catch up, though Yellow had lagged behind a bit to wait for her. "We decided on the training room," she answered as they made their way to the forge. "It seems like the safest place to put it, in case of any kind of emergency."

Yellow nodded. "So we're moving the rest of the equipment in there to work on?"

"No, I thought about blocking part of it off for that, but I think it would be easier to set up in the common room. It gives us more space, and it won't be too far to transport everything once we're ready to install. Is that alright? If you want a quieter workspace…"

"No, I don't mind," she answered. "Trust me, once you've worked with _Camp Pining Hearts_ on repeat in the background, anything is an improvement."

"Camp…what?"

"Never mind." Yellow smirked. "Working with Peridot was…interesting."

"Peridots are so funny," Caddy laughed, turning to walk backwards ahead of them. "They've got that super intense focus-y thing going on, so it's fun to surprise them. I mean, you have to pretend it was an accident and then let them rant at you for a while because, you know, Pearl here, but it's still great."

"I always hated them."

"Of _course_ you did," Caddy said. "So what did this one do to make you change your mind?"

Yellow shrugged. "She made an effort. And she also called Yellow Diamond a clod to her face a while back, which in retrospect might have been a point in her favor."

"Oh my stars, I love her already."

She rolled her eyes. "I'll be sure to introduce you."

"Yes _please._ " She turned back around as they arrived and knocked awkwardly against the door with the chunk of warp pad. "Azalea! Delivery!"

The door swished open a second later. "Hey," Azalea greeted them quietly, pointing them to where they should drop the warp pieces. She knelt down to inspect the one Chroma set down with curiosity.

"Think they'll melt alright?" Chroma asked.

She nodded. "I'll be careful, start it at a low temperature to try and keep any elements from burning off."

"Thanks. We've got a bunch more, so we'll be in and out."

"Okay."

As they made their way back and forth, back and forth, Yellow answered the others' questions about where all of the broken warp pads had come from.

"An old galaxy warp, huh?" Caddy skipped ahead. "So you guys were all stranded out there?"

"They were sort of stranded by choice," she pointed out. "It's not as if they could come back here."

"They _did_ come back here."

"Only temporarily."

"Wait, so the Renegade's not sticking around?" Chroma asked, surprised.

"Oh," Yellow said, taken aback. "I haven't asked but I assumed she'd go back with Steven."

Chroma nodded.

"The point of the warp pad is so they can go back and forth," she explained. "I mean, it can obviously be an escape route for everyone here if needed, but that's its immediate purpose. Steven can't stay out here indefinitely like the rest of us. And the Crystal Gems promised Rose Quartz they'd protect the planet."

"Protect a whole _planet_ ," Caddy said grandly. "They're pretty cool, aren't they?"

"Mm."

"They look cool too. Like, bam, we're the Crystal Gems and we don't wear diamonds! Sky's gotta be super jealous."

"What?"

"Sky. She has like fifty diamonds on her, I'm not even exaggerating. I _counted_." Caddy rolled her eyes. "I might complain about my Diamond but I think I'd shatter if I belonged to Blue. Diamond, I mean. Gonna be weird not abbreviating that anymore."

Yellow hesitated for a second, then commented, "That's how Blue and I got our names."

"Huh?"

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Well, that's what they call themselves, and we decided we'd steal it for our own."

Caddy looked at her for a long moment, resting her chin on the piece of warp pad she was carrying.

"Just, you know," Yellow pointed out, "so you realize our names aren't as mediocre as you thought."

"Yeah," Caddy said with a grin, "I might have to rethink my assessment then."

* * *

Just as they were finishing up their second to last trip, Ory got called away by Aura and she excused herself apologetically, the two of them waving to Chroma and making her smile. The other three made the last run and then Yellow used her gem to transport the rest of the materials that they would be taking to the common room to work on.

"Thanks," Chroma said to them as she began unpacking everything.

"No problem."

"Yeah, happy to help!" Caddy agreed, having tagged along just to chat. "Although I should probably be taking off soon. I guess I'll have to leave you two to the—ooh, White, hey!" She jumped up to greet the other Pearl, who attempted to sidestep her hug. Caddy grabbed her anyway, predicting the move. "How've you been?"

"I stole something cool."

"I said _how_ have you been, not what have you been doing," she said, smiling.

"That is how I've been," White said nonchalantly. "I've been stealing. Let go, Cadmium."

"It's Caddy," she said, dropping her arms and taking two quick steps back to give her the requested space.

"Where's Crimson?"

"I don't know, around." Caddy looked mildly put out at her disinterest. "Last time I saw her was in comms with Aura."

"Okay." White started off in that direction.

"Wait, I'll come with you!" she volunteered quickly.

"Why?"

"Because I feel like it. Plus I want to see what you got!"

White gave her a short, resigned look. "You don't make any sense, Cadmium."

"It's Caddy. And thank you," she said proudly. "I try my best not to."

White didn't protest when Caddy followed, but she certainly didn't slow down for her either.

"See you guys later!" Caddy called as she ran after her. "Yellow, feel free to come by and pester your old Diamond if you feel like it!"

"Not in a million years," she called back.

"Million-year reunion it is! I'll hold you to that!"


	32. Chapter 32

"Crimson, what happened your office?"

She looked up to see Sky leaning in the doorway, calm blue eyes taking in the mess that occupied the entire floor. Crimson was sitting on the edge of her desk, looking over an oddly shaped and probably broken device she'd picked up. "White happened to my office," she said with a sigh.

"White?" Sky poked at some of the nearest items with the toe of her shoe. "I mean, this _does_ look like things she'd grab, but why'd she leave them here instead of taking them to storage?"

"I'm assuming Caddy was involved."

"Mm, I guess it's possible, but it's not really her style."

"You'd be the gem to know, so I'll take your word for it. It does lack her…flair."

"She'd be very pleased to hear you recognize it," Sky laughed.

"Don't go giving her a big head," Crimson said dryly. "Anyway, I wouldn't expect this sort of thing from White, that's all."

"She might not do much with it usually, but she does have a sense of humor," Sky pointed out with a half-shrug. "Want help cleaning up?"

"Only if you have the time."

"I do."

"Alright." Crimson slipped down from her desk, landing in a small clear space on the floor. She had to scan the room to figure out how to get to the door, picking out more little spaces she could jump to amongst the mess. Two jumps zig-zagged her closer to the door, and she wobbled a little as she landed en pointe for the last one.

Sky's eyes sparkled with amusement as she steadied Crimson's landing. "Safe."

"Thanks," Crimson said with a smile, dropping her weight back to her heels. "Good to see you, by the way."

"You too."

"How have things been for you?"

"The same, mostly," she answered. "Nothing terribly interesting to report, though I gave all the information to Aura if you want to see it anyway."

"Later," she agreed. "But that's not what I meant. Have _you_ been okay?"

"Oh. Yeah, I am." Sky fidgeted with her jacket sleeves, a small blush rising to her cheeks. "I…I'm trying to remember what you said the other day. And what Caddy says."

"Good." Crimson gave Sky's arm a light squeeze. "Let me know if there's ever anything I can do to help."

She nodded. "Thanks. Same goes for you. Just, you know, if you ever need somebody to listen, I'd like to repay the favor."

"I appreciate the offer," she said warmly. "But right now, I'm just going to work on getting my office back to normal."

"That's fair." Sky knelt on the floor, the laces of her ballet flats shifting as her knees bent. "Can't have our leader tripping on the way to her desk."

The two of them quickly set to work clearing a pathway into the small room and then moving out from there until the floor was visible again. It was quick work to walk it over to the first available storage room, dumping everything out of their gems into a pile. Crimson scribbled out a quick apology note to Snow and signed it neatly.

"Alright, now that's taken care of…" she said, leading the way back and settling in the small lounge area outside of her office door.

"After all that, we're not even going to spend any time in your office?" Sky teased.

"Did you _want_ to spend time in my office?" she asked skeptically. "It's not very comfortable. The only thing it's got going for it is the little gifts you and Aura keep bringing me to decorate with."

"You're sweet," she replied warmly, taking a seat beside her and swinging her legs back and forth slowly. "And no, I didn't. I just think it's funny." She paused for a moment, looking at Crimson. "Have I missed anything going on around base?"

"Nothing big," Crimson reassured her. "Just, you know, making plans and getting everyone settled in."

Sky nodded. "What's on your mind then?"

"Huh?"

"It just seemed like…" She shrugged. "I don't know. You looked like something was bothering you before."

"I've just been thinking about White," Crimson admitted. "That's why I came over here, to see if I can catch her on her way in or out."

"I thought she'd already been by recently…?" Sky gestured to the office.

"Yeah, but she's been going back and forth a lot more lately," she explained. "I want to try and talk to her about that and…other stuff."

"Stuff like how reckless she's getting?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah. You've noticed too?"

Sky nodded. "I mean, she's always been that way, I know. It's just…she knows she'll be gone soon."

"Right," Crimson agreed with a sigh. "I don't know how to get through to her."

"I don't either. Neither does Caddy, though stars know she tries."

"Yeah," she said softly.

"We—We've been talking and if there's a way…"

"Sky."

"We don't want to watch history repeat itself over and over, Crimson," she said with a rare fierceness to her voice. "Not if we can help it. I know White Diamond will just keep making more Pearls, but…"

"It doesn't make White worth any less," she finished. "I know. I don't want it to happen either."

"But?"

"But I'm worried what would happen if we got her out, even if it was as simple as her not going back to her Diamond one day."

"We could handle it. We'd find a way."

"I know you would," Crimson said. "I just want you two to be safe too."

"Thanks," she said with a quick smile. "We're trying to be."

"Good." She lay a hand over Sky's tangled fingers gently before letting it slip back to her side.

"Sorry the three of us always seem to have so much drama to add to the rebellion," Sky said. "Don't worry too much, okay?"

"I'll try." She smiled faintly. "I suppose if worst comes to worst, Caddy and White can always pull some massive prank on White Diamond."

"Hey, what about me?" she asked lightly.

"I've never seen you prank anyone."

"Crimson," Sky said with mock seriousness, "surely you're not naïve enough to think Caddy always works alone."

"I had my suspicions, but I was holding out hope you were the one sane gem."

"Sorry," she laughed.

"Then I guess I should expect a prank from you next?"

"Now why would I want to incriminate myself like that?"

"Alright, alright, I accept my fate," Crimson laughed. "Go easy on me, please?"

"Well, you can rest assured I won't mess up your office after we just cleaned up White's—oh, speak of the Diamond." Sky cut herself off when she caught sight of the Pearl in question hurrying past them. "White."

"Yeah?" White stopped, turning an expectant stare to Sky.

"Crimson wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"A couple things," Crimson said easily. "You want to sit down?"

"Not really."

"Alright. Well, the first one was just curiosity—what inspired you to make a mess all over my office?"

"Inspired?" White repeated blankly.

"I didn't have you pinned as a prankster."

"It wasn't a prank."

"It wasn't?" Crimson asked disbelievingly. "Then why did you do it?"

"You told me to drop it anywhere," White said with a shrug. "So I did."

Crimson stared at her. "That's a joke, right?"

"No," she said calmly, expression perfectly neutral.

"You didn't do it because you were getting annoyed with me trying to talk you out of things?"

"Well," White amended, "it might have been a little bit of that, but it was also more convenient. Faster than going to the back."

"Uh _huh._ " Crimson's lips twitched into a tiny smile. "Caddy's clearly rubbing off on you."

"Cadmium usually sticks to hugging."

"…You're in rare form today."

"Am I?"

"Most definitely. Anyway, on a more serious note, there is something we need to discuss. Take a seat?"

White did this time, dropping into a chair rapidly as her whole posture screamed _hurry up_. "What? I brought more stuff to drop off."

"I know, that's what I want to talk to you about."

"Okay."

"It's just that you've been taking a lot high-risk items lately," Crimson said. "And they're good to have and I appreciate you doing that, but you have to be more careful."

"No, I don't," White said matter-of-factly.

" _Yes_ , you do. I don't want you getting hurt."

"I haven't gotten hurt."

"You will if you keep it up."

"And I will if I don't, so I don't see the difference."

"White," Crimson said quietly. "Of course there's a difference. You have a choice. I've told you before that if you want to run away, we'll help."

"I'm not running away. I told you that already."

"We're trying to give you another option, but we can't do that if—"

"There is no other option," White said calmly. "You can't risk rescuing me, there's no need to pretend otherwise. I'm not upset about it, I don't need your protection, and I'm not going to play it safe because it won't change anything."

Crimson's jaw set stubbornly. "I can't stand back and watch you destroy yourself."

"I'm not destroying myself," White said, irritation finally leaking into her voice. "I'm not _trying_ to get caught, I'm not _trying_ to get shattered. But it's going to happen, and I can't waste time fooling myself that it won't. Just let me be useful while I'm here."

The silence that followed made Sky's skin crawl with unpleasant memories.

"Fine," Crimson said finally, her voice muted. "Fine. But if you want to help the rebellion, you have to start listening to what we actually need from you. If you keep using up all your chances on stealing nonessential supplies, that _is_ self-destruction, White, whether you want to admit it or not. You need to start thinking about what you're doing. It affects your life and other Pearls' lives too."

White's eyes darted sideways, her eyes lingering for just a split second on Sky. "I wouldn't be so thoughtless as to get anyone else involved," she said evenly, regaining her composure. "I decided that long before you all started offering to save me."

"White—"

She stood up abruptly. "I'm going to deliver these supplies. I can't stay."

"White, _wait_ a minute—" Crimson started after her as she walked away, only to nearly collide with Blue as she was exiting the common room. "Oh, excuse me, sorry."

"It's okay," Blue said quickly, waving her hands. "Actually, I was looking for you, but if this is a bad time I can come back."

She glanced back down the hallway. "No, no, it's fine. I just—"

"She can wait with me," Sky spoke up gently. "It's alright. You should go. You had an assignment for her, right?"

"Yeah, just to see if I can redirect her attention a little. You're sure?"

She nodded.

"Okay, thank you." Crimson took off after White.

Sky let out a soft sigh as she watched her. "It feels like we're fighting a losing battle, but I'm glad she tries," she said quietly, not sure what other conversation to offer after that exchange.

"With White?" Blue asked. The question would have been rhetorical, but Sky could hear the unspoken _Or with everything?_ that was hidden in there too.

"With White," she answered firmly.

She nodded, a sad smile gracing her lips. "There have been a lot of them lost over the years. I can't imagine what it's like being owned by White Diamond."

"No," Sky agreed. "Me neither."

They fell into an uncomfortable silence, one that made Sky's fingers itch to find something to do, something that would excuse her, but she'd already offered her company.

"But," Blue said suddenly, startling her, "I'm glad you three have each other."

"It's more just Caddy and me," Sky said, shy to correct her. "White is…White."

"It's still good," she said. "I wish Yellow and I… Well, I wish I had tried to talk to her sooner, I guess. It probably would have been good for both of us."

"You weren't friends?" Sky asked, startled.

"Not until more recently."

"Oh. We had just assumed…"

Blue shook her head.

"I'm sorry. Even with all the stories, I guess I don't know much about you."

"Well, that's alright," she said with a careful smile. "I don't know much about you either. We just met after all."

"Yeah." She hesitated, then tried a smile in return. "I'm sorry you weren't able to get to know each other sooner, but I'm glad we're different—that our relationships are different? Is that alright?"

"Yeah," Blue answered easily. "That's—of course. Me and Yellow, you and Caddy, we shouldn't chalk it up to some kind of silly destiny or anything. We just found the gems we needed at the right times."

"Exactly."

* * *

Crimson returned soon after, looking tired as they both greeted her. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she apologized to Blue as she took her place next to Sky again. "Is there something we can do for you?"

"That's what I was going to ask you actually," Blue replied, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious. "Just, you know, where can you use me? Yellow's going to be busy with the warp pad and I'm afraid I wouldn't be much help over there, so…"

"Oh, yes, of course. We can figure something out." Crimson sat up a little straighter. "Is there anything in particular you're interested in? I'm afraid I don't really know your strengths beyond, well, recruiting. And I don't feel comfortable assigning you to that and risking your safety." She gestured to both Blue and Sky, making the _you_ plural.

Blue almost wanted to argue, to say that she could disguise herself and make sure she wasn't recognized as Blue Diamond's old Pearl, but then she thought better of it. She might know how to be sneaky about talking to other Pearls, but she'd always done it from a position that had, in some ways, allowed her the freedom to take those risks. She'd never had to hide herself, only what she was doing. The rules were different now.

"I'd be happy to work on pretty much anything," she answered instead. "What do you need most?"

"Hmm…" Crimson glanced briefly at Sky. "Well, anything you can tell us about Blue Diamond, that would certainly be helpful. Or if you know of any passageways or shortcuts we're not aware of that could help us navigate central Homeworld…"

Blue nodded quickly. "Of course, that's no trouble! I can do both."

"Great. I'll send you over to Aura and Millie in communications for the former, they're the ones who keep those kinds of records filed for us. Maybe save that for later though, they've already got their hands full. But you can run all the shortcuts by me now. Let me just grab a screen from my office."

"I'll get it," Sky volunteered before she could get up.

"Thank you," Crimson said appreciatively.

Once Sky had brought it back, Blue watched with curiosity as she zoomed in on Facet One, where the Diamonds' courts were located. Sky tapped a corner of the screen to bring up an array of vaguely organized solid lines that cut all through the facet and went off the edges to every adjoining one.

"These are the tunnels we've been using," Sky said. "They only reach the inner facets, but it's useful for us getting in and out of court."

"There are tunnels?" Blue asked.

"Wait, you don't know about them?" Crimson said. "I just figured…"

She shook her head. "You're talking about tunnels that were already there, not ones you made, right?"

"Yeah, from way, way back in the day when they were first building, as far as I can tell. I think it's how they moved supplies without having to maneuver around things on the surface."

"Oh, I know what you mean now!" Blue exclaimed. "I think I stumbled across a few of the entrances a long time ago, but I didn't want to risk exploring them and getting caught, so…"

"That's fair," Crimson agreed. "I probably wouldn't have tried it while I was in service either. I've just had a lot more free time on my hands in recent years to learn the shortcuts."

"I'm honestly not sure I can be of much assistance then," she said with a shrug and a quick smile. "The only places I really know well enough are the courts, the facets under Blue Diamond, and parts of Facet Two where they do the harvesting and shattering and stuff. And that's just back routes, not secret passageways or anything."

"That's useful too," she said.

Sky nodded as well. "I'm sure there's still things I don't know about my Diamond's areas."

"Well…" Blue hesitated, then reached out to touch part of the map. "There's a nice little hallway nobody uses over here that might help on errands at least."

"Speeding those up is always nice," she said. "Thanks."

"And another one that goes through this way. And…here, if you need to get over to Yellow Diamond's court fast."

"Ah, Caddy and I use that one all the time," Sky said with a faint smile.

Blue returned it, nodding. "Cool. And this one for White Diamond's?"

"We were wondering if there was one over there!"

Blue smiled a little at the genuine excitement in Sky's voice, the atmosphere warming just a little bit more.

She spent another few minutes pointing out different shortcuts she'd discovered over the years, and Sky and Crimson took turns drawing them in on the map with one finger.

"I think that's everything," she concluded finally. "I'll tell you if I think of any others."

"Thanks." Crimson turned off the screen. "I'm sorry I haven't really got anything concrete for you to be doing at the moment, but if you sit in the common room for a little while someone's bound to ask you to help with something."

"Okay," Blue laughed. "I'll do that then; I'm sure I'll find something. And, um, I hope things go okay with White, whatever happens." She stood up, bringing her hand to her gem simultaneously. "I honor your service."

Both of them did the salute in return, but it was Sky who answered her first, steady eyes holding her gaze. "I honor your bravery."

And it still wasn't much, but Sky felt less like a stranger now.

* * *

In the common room, Blue gravitated toward Yellow first to say hello. The other Pearl was sitting on the floor in front of a large piece of paper that had been laid out. Pearl, Chroma, and Lavender each sat on one of the other three sides, and the paper was already covered in a mish mash of notes and sketches in mixed handwriting from their brainstorming.

"Hey," Blue said lightly, sitting between Yellow and Lavender.

"Hi." Yellow was clearly distracted, but she spared a moment to look up and give her a quick smile.

"I don't suppose you have any experience making warp pads?" Chroma asked with a small wave in greeting.

"Afraid not," she said apologetically. "But if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know."

"Thanks."

Blue knew there really _wasn't_ much she could do, but she figured it couldn't hurt to have an extra pair of hands in case they were needed. Or maybe someone else would come by, like Crimson had said, and she could help them instead. Either way was fine.

It was nice to watch the other four Pearls work in the meantime, even if she wasn't participating. Pearl and Yellow worked well together, a blend of old and new knowledge that traveled back and forth between them. Chroma and Lavender, meanwhile, seemed to have a natural teamwork that consisted of lots of traded "maybes" and "what ifs" and a fascination with every detail as if it was brand new to them. The two pairs didn't seem entirely comfortable together yet, but they weren't reluctant either, and Blue kept being overwhelmed with how wonderful it was that all these very different Pearls could be working together like this, _making_ something together like this.

"It's probably best to divide up the work," Pearl said after a while, watching Chroma draw out a quick new diagram and then hand the pen off to Yellow for her to start labeling things. "Perhaps two of us working on the programming side of things and two on the physical construction of the pad and its sensors and the like?"

"It might be more like two and one," Chroma said. "Silver mentioned you were going to help with training?"

"Yes, I did volunteer to do that," she replied with a pleased smile. "Don't worry, I'm plenty used to juggling multiple roles in a rebellion."

Chroma nodded. "I'm sure you can, I just don't trust Silver not to steal you at every opportunity."

"You mean like she's trying to right now?" Lavender asked, grinning as she tilted her head towards the door.

She glanced over her shoulder. "Exactly like that. Hi, Sil."

" _Hi! Just seeing how all our talented engineers are doing_ ," Silver projected, coming over to sit next to Chroma and take a look at the plans.

"Well, we just started," Chroma said, though she couldn't hide the smile that immediately found its way to her face.

" _And it already looks so cool and official._ " Silver bumped her shoulder gently and then turned to her other side. " _This is your first big project, right, Lavender?_ "

"Huh?" She seemed startled by the sudden attention. "Um, yeah, I-I suppose it is."

" _That's awesome. You're going to do great._ "

"Thanks," she said, face tinging a slightly darker purple.

" _And Pearl, you too!_ " Silver continued. " _I mean, I'm sure you've worked on all sorts of things before, but this is your first time with the rebellion. It's so exciting to have you here!_ "

"Well, it's exciting to be here," Pearl replied.

She said it genuinely, warmly, but Blue was surprised to hear a hint of melancholy there as well. And then it was gone, pushed aside as Pearl continued.

"I was thinking I would divide my time evenly," she said. "You seem to do most of the group training in the afternoon—or, well, what Steven would call afternoon, I realize it all tends to blur together here—so I think it would be most efficient for me to join you in that half of the day."

" _Sure! And don't mind me—we can start tomorrow, I know you have a lot to figure out with all this. I'll get a head start on training plans while you guys work._ " Silver jumped back up, waving to the group and then kissing Chroma just beside her gem before disappearing back into the training room.

"And if you need a break at any point, feel free to take it," Chroma said with a careful smile in Pearl's direction. "Neither of us want to take up _all_ your time, I promise."

"Thank you, but I'm just fine right now. Shall we get back to planning?"

"Sure."

"Yellow, can I see that for a moment?" Pearl continued, motioning to the pen. Yellow passed it over, and she started a small list off to the side. "Here's the materials we need. I'll trust the rest of you to fill in any newer components I'm not aware of."

"They probably haven't changed too much in the past five thousand years," Blue volunteered. "The Diamonds tend to go with the 'if it's not broken, don't fix it' mentality for that kind of thing."

"True," Yellow agreed. "And I didn't observe that kind of construction much during my service, but these look like the materials that were used."

"Even with less resources available?"

She shrugged, looking to Blue.

"I think they dilute it down more than they used to instead of switching materials, but don't quote me on that."

"Alright," Pearl said. "If that's the case, maybe it's better to use the old schematics. Chroma? Lavender? Anything we're missing?"

"I wouldn't know," Chroma said with a shrug.

"Me neither," Lavender echoed. "But Millie's mentioned filing some construction information before, so it might be worth checking to see if we've got anything about warp pads."

"Excellent, could you do that for us later?"

"Yeah, I'd be happy to." She paused. "If it's alright, I'd like to work on the physical construction part. There's loads of old scrap that can be taken apart and made into a mold for the pad."

"Certainly," Pearl agreed. "That'll be an important part of the process." She glanced over to Yellow. "I'm going to assume you'd prefer the programming side of things?"

"Yeah."

"What about you?" she asked Chroma.

"I'll stick with Lavender," she said. "I _can_ do programming stuff, but it's all trial and error. You'll be more help than I am, from what I've heard."

"Alright. Although it's hardly as if we'll be completely isolated," Pearl continued. "I'm sure we'll be switching back and forth and working together throughout. And there are always times when new, untrained eyes can be useful."

Chroma and Lavender both mumbled a slightly flustered thank you.

"Why don't we begin by confirming what we do and don't have to work with?"

"Sure," Chroma agreed, reaching for another pen to mark items off the list.

"And we should break down the process into smaller tasks to be completed," Yellow said. "You said you brought the old schematics, right?"

"'Brought' in a less material sense, yes." Pearl lit up her gem to project a diagram, flicking through several images. "I'll copy it down and make duplicates for everyone."

"That works."

Pearl was already retrieving more paper from her gem, beginning to put it all down in writing by memory.

Yellow was busy adding notes to their diagrams but Chroma and Lavender watched Pearl, expressions slowly becoming more confused as they looked at what she was writing. It took Blue some squinting and concentration to realize it was because Pearl was writing in English.

"Sorry to interrupt," Lavender said slowly after a moment, only after having silently ascertained that Chroma was also completely lost, "but what is that?"

Pearl stopped, glancing up. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…what are you writing?"

Her gaze fell back to the paper. It took a couple seconds, but then her face was immediately swept with turquoise blush. "Oh! Oh my stars, I'm so sorry, it's habit. I've grown more accustomed to Earth than I realized, it seems. I'll start over."

"It's okay."

Pearl hurried to switch to a fresh sheet of paper, embarrassed. This time, gem writing flowed smoothly across the page in neat Era 1 penmanship. If she was out of practice, it didn't show.

Blue watched, as the others did, but her mind drifted. She wished she had something to do that suited her as well as this suited Yellow. She'd find something, surely, with so much to be done here, but it was frustrating all the same.

Lavender seemed to notice her wandering gaze after a little while and gave her a small, quick smile. "Not for you?" she asked, tilting her head towards the plans.

"Not really," she admitted. "Yellow's helping me learn a few basic things, but that's about it." She shrugged, smiling. "How long have you done this sort of thing?"

"Ah, like Silver said, this is the first big project I've worked on."

"But you were working on the…" Blue made the vague shape of the devices Yellow had been working on. "Sensors? Scanners?"

"Oh, yeah. But Chroma did a lot of the legwork on that before I started helping out. I haven't been here very long, really."

"I'm not sure anyone's been here very long," she countered kindly. "With a few exceptions, right?"

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Lavender smiled. "So, um, do you like it here? Everyone keeps talking about how it was sort of your idea…"

"I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that," Blue laughed, embarrassed. "I _hoped_ something like this could happen, but I never imagined it happening so quickly or being so…" She gestured around them. "Free. You have a place all your own."

"We do," Lavender said quietly. "It takes some getting used to."

"Doesn't it?" she agreed. "I'm so happy to have it be real though. It's perfect."

"You say that now," the other Pearl said lightly, "but you haven't seen how much we have to fix on a daily basis."

Blue giggled. "Is it that bad?"

"Let's just say that if the rest of Homeworld is the same way, I have a new appreciation for the gems that are made for this work."

"That's fair," she laughed. "I definitely gained some appreciation of my own watching Yellow and and the others work on the ship."

"Where is your ship, by the way?"

"Oh! Well, it's still in Facet Ten, but it's in a pretty secluded spot. I think we're going to try and dismantle it and bring everything back to use."

Lavender nodded, eyes brightening. "Can I help?"

"I mean, I don't see why not."

"Great! Thanks."

"Be careful," Chroma said, warm amusement playing in her eyes as she turned to look at them. "There's no halfway with her; she'll take it down to only screws and scrap metal if she's given the chance."

"That's what they _want_ to do," Lavender protested.

"I'm just teasing, it's a good skill to have." Chroma smiled. "It'll be a good job for you. You okay with leaving the base though?"

"Yeah, it's fine." She hesitated. "That's the facet I came from though, so, uh…"

"So we'll just have to be a little extra careful."

"Yeah," Lavender said gratefully.

They lapsed into quiet after that, looking over the few pages that Pearl had already completed. Blue wasn't sure how many there would be total, but she guessed there was a ways to go. She leaned lightly against Yellow's shoulder, enjoying the laser-sharp focus she gave to her work.

Only a few minutes later, another Pearl came to join them. It took Blue a moment to place her, but soon her memory supplied _Snow_ , the one who looked after all the storage rooms and their supplies.

"Hi, Snow," she greeted her as she leaned against the wall next to Blue.

"Oh, hi!" She looked surprised that Blue remembered her name.

"How's work?"

"Pretty good, just taking a quick break."

"It seems like you must be pretty busy? You and, um, Quinacridone?"

"Yep. That's who I'm taking a break from," Snow said, though her words just sounded solidly friendly. "How have you been?"

"Good. You know, if there's anything you could use some extra help with, I'd be happy to lend a hand."

"What? No, no, it's okay," she said quickly, waving her hands. "I'm sure you've got your hands full already. Thanks though."

Blue nodded, wanting to correct the assumption but feeling oddly embarrassed. In the meantime, Snow had turned to Lavender already.

"Hey, Lavy? Have you seen Millie lately?"

"No, why?" she asked curiously.

"She seemed pretty worn out last time I saw her, I just wanted to make sure she was alright."

"Ah." Lavender glanced back at their sketches, frowning, then to Chroma. "Can I go…?"

"Feel free," she said immediately. "Let me know if you guys need anything."

"Thanks. Sorry, Pearl, Yellow. Excuse me." She looked to Snow as she got up. "You want to head over to communications then?"

"I _want_ to, but I'm being run ragged lately with White's enthusiasm for completely useless large objects. Besides, I'd think Millie would take the advice to slow down better from you."

"Why would she—"

"Intuition, Lavy, _intuition._ Sometimes your gem just knows."

"You're speaking gibberish; you really are tired."

"Oh, you have no idea." Snow took her by the shoulders and redirected her towards the door that would take her over to the correct hallway. "Thank you for doing this for me, Lavy, it means a lot, bye!"

Lavender glanced over her shoulder to see Snow already disappearing out the opposite door and rolled her eyes. "I don't know what's gotten into her," she commented when she caught Blue's questioning look, "but I'll try to be back soon."

"Take your time."

* * *

The communications room looked the same as always when she arrived, save for the mess of physical files that had scattered on the floor in a vaguely organized mess. An exhausted Millie was at the center of them, slumped against the main terminal with one hand still resting on a file like she'd been ready to pick it up and move it when her eyes had closed.

She watched the pink Pearl for a moment, eyes drifting to the gem at her throat that was keeping her head at an oddly proper angle while the rest of her was slouched tiredly.

Too much work, Lavender thought as she swept all the files into a stack. They were trying to do away with all of this stuff, but the fact of the matter was they just didn't have the equipment available to do that yet—half of what they did have was out of date, and the other half had to be prioritized by who needed it most. Comms, obviously, needed it, but all the information coming into them wasn't in that format, so there was still too much converting and typing and general busywork to be done to get everything in one place.

Lavender reached out slowly after she'd gathered the files, unsure whether she should nudge the sleeping Pearl awake. In the end, she settled on calling out a soft "Millie" as she set everything back down on the desk and knelt beside her. "Millie," she said again.

"Hm?" Her eyes blinked open slowly, squinted at her. "What are you doing here?"

"Snow sent me to check on you."

"Snow's silly."

Lavender ignored her. "Where'd Aura go?"

Millie sighed, opening her eyes all the way. "I told Silver to take her home a little while ago. She's been frazzled with all the new gems around."

"And you're not?"

She made a noncommittal noise and let herself collapse back against the terminal, eyes closing.

"Millie, look…" she began. "Millie? _Chamomile?_ "

"No thanks…"

This time, Lavender reached out to nudge her gently as the words trailed into sleepy silence. "Millie?" Stars, her skin was cold—not the normal kind of cold that gems could get but a clammy cold that felt wrong. "Alright, you're coming with me," she decided as Millie started to squirm away.

"No I'm not," she protested. "I have data to file, now leave me alo—hey!"

Lavender got her arms underneath Millie, trying to angle her gemmed hip away from Millie's heels but otherwise ignoring her indignant but weak struggle to get away.

"Who do you think you are—Silver?" Millie sputtered as Lavender stood up carefully.

"You're welcome to pretend I am, if it means you'll listen."

Millie's cheeks flared a peachy pink and she quieted down as Lavender walked her out of comms and down the hallway that ran between the training room and the common room. Her head leaned lightly against Lavender's as she let out a small huff and her thin, cold arms came up to wrap around her neck. They took a left to walk down to Millie's end of the living hall, all the way at the other side of the building.

When they finally made it to her room, Lavender stood, waiting for Millie to either open the door or volunteer the code she had set. She didn't, and she briefly wondered if the other Pearl had fallen asleep on her again—though a quick look told her she was only being stubborn.

"I can stand here all day, Millie."

"Or you could put me down and let me finish my work."

"Not happening."

"I'm not telling you the code."

"Alright." Lavender didn't move.

"Aren't _you_ working?"

"Not until you rest."

"Chroma's going to be mad at you."

"No, she won't. She's Chroma."

"Well, the Renegade then. Or Stop-Talking-About-My-Ass Yellow."

"They'll just have to deal with it, because you are not going to convince me to put you down. Give it up."

Millie did give up the arguing, but her obstinacy was another thing entirely. She struggled a little bit more and then gave that up to fall asleep instead, still holding onto Lavender.

"Really?" Lavender sighed, shifting her posture a little bit to ready herself for a long wait. It was calm at least, with the shorter strands of Millie's hair gently tickling her cheek and her light form relaxed in Lavender's arms.

About an hour or so in, their stalemate was interrupted by Chroma, who seemed to have come looking for them.

"Hey, are you two alright?" she asked quietly, eyes flicking between Lavender and the sleeping Millie in her arms.

"Yeah, we're fine." Lavender was careful to keep her voice soft too. "Did you need something?"

"No, we decided we'd all take a break for a little while, I was just checking. But if _you_ need anything…"

"I'll let you know. Thanks."

Chroma nodded, about to leave. "Crimson _does_ keep a record of all the door passcodes," she said as she turned, a small smirk playing on her lips. "Just, you know, if you need some backup."

"We'll be okay." She wasn't going to admit defeat this soon.

"Gotcha." Chroma headed back to the other end of the hall, where her room was framed by Silver and Aura's. It was the latter's whose door she disappeared into though, and Lavender couldn't keep from smiling a little at how naturally the three seemed to know what each other needed.

What Millie needed, on the other hand, still felt frustratingly out of reach. She watched the other Pearl for a moment, then quickly looked away when Millie began to stir once more.

Eyes that opened only a crack took in the gem holding her. Then, with a quiet sigh, came only a breath of a murmur. "It's a spiral."

"What?" Lavender asked, taken aback. The words had been so unexpected, she hadn't quite managed to process them.

"The passcode," Millie said, exhaustion tugging at her voice. "Start in the middle and spiral out."

Lavender nodded—the gesture missed as Millie's eyes slipped closed again—and moved her enough to reach out and touch the door panel with one hand. A spiral?

Her first try was a little too fast, her finger slipping. The second she traced more carefully, winding the line out slowly from the center. The door remained shut. Maybe it needed to go in the other direction, Lavender decided. Millie's answer had seemed too genuine to be any kind of attempt to mislead.

That was it. Lavender smiled satisfactorily as the door swished open, moving her arm back into place to support Millie. The tired Pearl leaned back against her, her weight slight but reassuring, as Lavender stepped inside.

It wasn't so different from Lavender's room, though that was hardly a surprise. But unlike Lavender's was the wall offering the false illusion of cool moonlight through the window. Her own window apparatus remained painstakingly dissembled to be studied, but Millie's was near-breathtaking in its view of the nighttime stars.

And beside it, the wall looked as though it had been sliced through, deep enough to reach outside and wide enough to allow a streak of soft, ambient light from the world beyond to spill across Millie's bed. Strange, but who knew what the gem who lived there before the rebellion was like. Whatever the cause, it was a picturesque scene.

She walked carefully over to the bed, trying not to jostle Millie, who had clearly slipped back into sleep. Lavender set her down, lining her up with a pillow so that she would be comfortable. But as she tried to ease Millie's arms from where they were latched around her, she found no give.

After two more unsuccessful tries and the feeling that Millie's grip was getting, if anything, stronger, Lavender tried reluctantly to wake her with a whisper. "Millie? Millie, you're back in your room now, you can let go."

The lack of a response did nothing to surprise her and even when she tried to duck out from under Millie's hold, she found herself stuck.

"Millie."

She wasn't going anywhere, apparently. Lavender figured she didn't have much choice besides waiting, so she gingerly lowered herself onto the bed as well and tried to stop the blush that kept rising to her cheeks, in case Millie decided to wake up now that Lavender had given in. That _would_ be like her.

But she remained steadfastly asleep in the warm beam of light from outside and every inch that Lavender tried to leave between them was quickly negated by a sleepy tug that brought her closer again.

The "Millie" that slipped from her tongue next was unintentional, just a breath as she watched her sleep, watched Millie's pained face begin to relax little by little as the seconds and then minutes passed.

Her skin, too, began to warm where Millie's arms remained around her neck, the clammy cold receding. Lavender breathed slowly, reassured by the slow changes that she'd chosen right, that this was helping.

She should probably get back to the others, continue working on their building plans, but Millie's room was comfy and peaceful, even if it hadn't exactly been her choice to stay. And perhaps—perhaps there's nothing wrong with enjoying it, allowing herself to rest too. She'd done very little of it in her time with the rebellion so far, despite Chroma's encouragement to.

She turned her gaze to Millie once more, then to the window, and then let her eyes close and the stars blur into beautiful streaks of light.


	33. Chapter 33

"Make sure you're careful."

It was the third time Caddy had said it, and White didn't dignify this repetition with a response any more than the last one. She didn't get why gems felt the need to say things more than once—it didn't accomplish anything.

Actually, she really didn't need to be talking to Caddy at all right now; she wasn't imparting anything new that warranted White sticking around to hear it. She should just head out on her mission already.

"Hey, I'm serious, okay? Don't go all self-sacrificial, alright?"

"Contrary to what everyone seems to think, being inclined to take risks _doesn't_ make me inclined to unnecessary heroics," White replied in as neutral a tone as she could manage. "I'll get the job done." Stars, she wished they'd stop making such a fuss about her.

"Okay, okay, I hear you. Just saying." There was obvious relief on Caddy's face as she smiled, and White wasn't sure why her own emotions suddenly wanted to mirror that.

It wasn't like it mattered how Caddy felt about this mission. She didn't have anything to do with it; she was just inserting herself into White's life like she always did.

Time to get moving, White decided, and she turned to go.

"Hey," Caddy said, a little louder than she should have when they were only a room away from their Diamonds. "Good luck. You got this."

White didn't know what to say to that, so she just lifted her hand in a lazy goodbye. It was more than she usually did, and she tried not to react to the happy little noise Caddy made before her whispered farewell followed White out of the hall.

* * *

White liked the rebellion. The idea had appealed to her from the very beginning, because why would she want to give her loyalty to a Diamond that would shatter her without a thought? There were better gems to be loyal to.

At the core though, White's loyalty wasn't really to a gem at all. It wasn't that she had anything against Crimson—she was a good leader, as far as she could tell—but she didn't have time to find a gem to admire or look up to or even just be friends with. She respected Crimson, but she was just part of a larger picture of _rebellion_ in White's mind that she promised she'd do her best to aid in the time she had.

But Crimson gave the orders, and White had no problem following them on occasion.

 _Projector Pearls_ , the older Pearl had explained to her. She'd kept it short and succinct, the way White liked it, but the concept was foreign and not of great concern anyway. Something before her time. Whatever kind of Pearls they were, White would rescue them, bring them back to the rebellion so they'd have a chance at a decent life.

She'd brought a bag with her, a colorful roundish thing that Steven had called a backpack, and Crimson had added in some more cushioning to try and lessen the possibility of damaging the gems in case anything happened as White was transporting them.

These would be dissipated Pearls, with minimal security given to them once the potentially sensitive information on their gems was wiped, so Crimson thought it would be safe enough to try and rescue them, intercept them before they got harvested. If anyone had asked White, she'd have said they should have tried to get them _before_ their gems were wiped so they'd have rescued Pearls and gotten some information at the same time, but that was too risky. Not to mention it was harder to steal away with a group of Pearls than with their gems.

So White waited, as she'd been told.

The process was taking place in Facet Three, one of White Diamond's facets, so White didn't have too far to go to get to the right place. The tunnels took her almost straight there, and she walked the last bit of the journey on the surface, her steps purposeful but reined in so she didn't look _too_ purposeful for a Pearl.

The hallways were a middling sort of busy, with a comfortable number of gems to go unnoticed in. White slipped away into a room beside the one the other Pearls would be in and shut the door. Crouching close to the wall, she listened to see if she'd be able to hear what was going on.

No, she discovered quickly. Unless the process and all gems involved were impossibly quiet, the place was soundproofed. A lot of Homeworld had updated rooms to be that way—less distractions. In White's case though, it meant she had to find another way in to eavesdrop.

Her eyes traveled up to the ceiling, searching. There, near one corner, was a trapdoor that would take her up into the crawl space designed for the little gems that ran maintenance. It'd be a little bit of a tight fit, but it would get her where she needed to go.

White bent her knees, then jumped up as high as she could. Her fingers grazed the touch pad to open it and then snagged on just in time to keep her from dropping back to the floor. It yanked her arm unpleasantly and she could just _see_ Silver saying she ought to come to training more to build up some strength.

All the same, she pulled herself up with a little effort and crawled forward as stealthily as possible in the narrow tunnel. Her skirt snagged briefly on something sharp and she shapeshifted it off impatiently, getting rid of the spikes on top of her leotard at the same time since the tunnel was uncomfortable enough without having to worry about poking herself.

Off to the right, that should be the room she needed. White inched along carefully. No noise. She had to be absolutely silent, or some other gem might hear her.

Thankfully, that also meant she could hear them. It was ridiculously easy to catch what everyone was saying from there.

"Are you finished yet?" That was an Agate, probably. White didn't like Agates. There was one that always looked at her funny in court, like she wanted to steal her for her own. Preposterous notion, but all the same, White tried to avoid her. She might not have been made for a good life, but at least she was assured a quick execution instead of the long, drawn out years of awfulness that other Pearls had to endure. Everything in White's life was quick, and she liked it that way.

"There's still three more to go," another gem answered below her. Couldn't place that one, but probably a Peridot or something there to make sure whatever device they were using did its job.

" _Three?_ "

"Two! Two now, this one just finished." There was fear in the gem's voice. "There's a lot of information on some of their gems and White Diamond said—"

"You don't need to remind me what she said," the Agate said impatiently. "Just get it done, and then leave them to get collected. I'm leaving two Citrines outside; I can't stand around here all day."

"Understood!"

Three gems total then. Good to know. She listened to the Agate leaving and catalogued the sound in her mind so she'd be able to tell when the room was empty. Having the Citrines outside was handy. White could just wait for the last gem to leave, drop down and grab the Pearls, and get out without anyone noticing a thing. Perfect.

It was only a few minutes before she heard the whir of machinery and a mumbled "Last one."

Only a little longer to wait now.

White stayed perfectly still, silent. She closed her eyes so she could focus only on sound. She hated waiting, hating the nothingness of it when there were so many other possible things to try doing, but this was what the rebellion wanted from her. She'd make sure it got done.

She waited. And waited.

She began to worry that she had missed something, some noise. The other Pearl hadn't taken very long, so… Should she assume she just missed it somehow? Go down anyway?

She was off schedule. Off schedule by _a lot_ now, she realized. Which she didn't really care about except that she needed to put in an appearance with her Diamond. Was she already late for that? She had to be. But she couldn't just leave and come back, because then she might not be able to—

"Stars, she'll have my gem if I don't report back soon…"

White just barely managed to catch herself from flinching at the sudden words.

"Stupid Pearl."

Was that footsteps? Was she leaving? The door was opening again.

"Citrine," White heard next, the voice farther away now. "You two stay here. The last Pearl is being wiped but it'll be a while longer. Check in regularly to see if it's completed and then notify me promptly."

Well. This was going to be a problem.

White didn't have time to waste laying in this maintenance tunnel, not if she wanted to make it back to her Diamond's side in time. After she grabbed the Pearls here, she had planned to stash them in one of the tunnels, make a brief appearance at her Diamond's rooms as scheduled, and then rush back to base as soon as she was dismissed. Waiting for this last Pearl would be way too long of a delay.

But the room _was_ empty now anyway… Well, nothing like a bit of improvisation. White wriggled forward, opened the door down into the room, and peeked out to confirm that it was safe. Then she repositioned herself and dropped down to the floor.

One glance around the room told her everything she needed to know. One Pearl hooked up to the strange machine, about eight others dissipated and lying in a pile. White went for the latter first, since she knew for sure she could take those. They were hurriedly stuffed into the backpack she'd brought in her gem, blanketed in layers of cloth so that they wouldn't clink together in transit and get hurt—or give her away.

White slung the bag over her shoulders and then made her way to the unpoofed Pearl.

"Hey," she said, not bothering to lower her voice. Soundproofing worked both ways. "Hey, you. Can you hear me?"

The Pearl was drooping in the chair, the pink gem on her wrist flickering erratically as the machine continued humming.

"Hey, Pearl. _Pearl._ You've got to wake up." White didn't get a response. She didn't know whether it would be safe to just yank the Pearl out of there, didn't know what the machine might do, but clearly that was her only option. Whatever it did, it couldn't be worse than the fate this Pearl had already been assigned. "Okay, let's go."

White ripped her wrist away from the machine and yanked her forward, to come tumbling down to the floor. That, at least, seemed to rouse her a little.

"Wh-What…?"

"I need you to be very quiet."

"What?"

" _Quiet._ You make a sound and they'll shatter the both of us. You hear me?"

The Pearl nodded mutely, the movement drowsy.

"Good." White took off the backpack and switched it around so the pack was nestled against her chest instead. "Get on my back."

The pink Pearl wasn't much help in that endeavor, but White managed to get her up, get her arms up around her neck and her legs at her waist. She seemed to have trouble keeping a grip on White, so she shifted some extra fabric at the top of her leotard and looped it tightly around the other Pearl's loosely linked hands.

"Quiet," she said again. She hated repeating things, but she didn't trust this half-conscious Pearl to remember it.

"Qui…et."

"Right. No matter what."

White felt the Pearl tense a little at that, but she ignored it. The real challenge now was going to be getting both of them up into the crawlspace.

She jumped once in place, trying to get a feel for how to do it with all the extra weight attached to her. "Okay," she muttered, positioning herself right below the opening. "Here goes."

Her first jump got her to the ceiling, but just short of where she needed to be. As soon as her feet were back on the ground, she jumped again, not wanting to waste time in case the Citrines decided to check in. They probably wouldn't bother, but White wasn't going to push it. This time she nearly made it, her hand almost catching on the side of the opening, but she didn't have enough of a grip and her nails were yanked back painfully as her fingers slipped.

"Fuck."

 _You're wasting time. You've already wasted too much time. This was supposed to be in and out._

"Quiet…"

The murmur from behind her came as a surprise, but it made White smile a little. "Yeah. You're right. Quiet."

One more. All the strength in her legs, all her strength to carry double her own weight. _Yes._ It occurred to her briefly as she dragged herself all the way in that it would be much easier to do this kind of thing if you could just put Pearls in your gem. A Pearl in a Pearl in a Pearl… Sounded like a weird joke. A silly, Cadmium kind of joke, she decided. Stars, she really _was_ rubbing off on White.

It was decidedly difficult to crawl through with another Pearl on her back, but it wasn't impossible. Just slow. Slow was equally dangerous, and White decided not to think about that. Worrying wouldn't speed her up, only effort.

She projected a map of the area from her gem, then overlaid another on top of it, showing all the underground tunnel entrances she knew about. She needed to get to a room with one of those and there was no way she could risk moving through the regular hallways like this. Quick searching found the nearest one and White quickly continued in that direction. It was guesswork getting to the right room, but it was controlled guesswork.

 _This should be it_ , she thought as she finally reached another opening. She waited an impatient ten seconds to listen for voices and then opened the panel. No one there, good. White maneuvered awkwardly through it, accidentally banging the other Pearl against the edge once but otherwise making it out unscathed.

The pink Pearl's hold on her was jostled as they dropped to the floor, and White quickly grabbed for her legs to make sure she didn't fall off. Then she lowered her to the floor and hurried to open up the trapdoor that would take them into the tunnels.

"Down here," she whispered, grabbing the Pearl again and dragging her towards the exit. "You're going to fall, but stay quiet."

The Pearl's eyes narrowed slightly at the statement but White didn't give her time to process it, just pushed her through. There was a small thud, but the Pearl, true to her word, made no sound.

White jumped in after her, landing nimbly on her feet, and slammed her hand onto the panel that would close the entrance. "Okay," she said, hastily taking off the backpack and passing it to the pink Pearl. "You hold onto this. Just sit right there, don't move. And don't make too much noise—these tunnels are kinda soundproofed but nowhere near as good as they can do nowadays. Got it?"

"Got…it."

"You wait _right here._ If I don't come back, you go straight down that way until you find the place where it branches into two paths. Stay near there and wait. If you see Yellow Diamond's Pearl, Blue Diamond's Pearl, or a red Pearl with a gem in her right shoulder, talk to them. They'll help you."

"What… Why?"

"Why doesn't matter right now. I have to go." White shapeshifted her outfit back to its normal state and took off immediately, gem hot with anxiety she was usually able to ignore.

 _Have to get back._

She was glad the tunnels spat her out right next to her Diamond's quarters. If they didn't… Well, she didn't have time to think about what ifs when there was a very real danger straight ahead of her.

White opened the door, suddenly feeling dwarfed by the humongous scale of this room compared to the tunnels.

"Pearl."

She was, most definitely, late.

White Diamond's visage was very rarely angry, unlike Cadmium's Diamond, but White knew how to recognize her displeasure all too well. This wasn't quite anger, her irritation not escalated that far, but one wrong move might get her there.

"Pearl, your tardiness is unacceptable. Come over here at once."

"Yes, my Diamond. My apologies, My Diamond." White ducked her head and hurried over as fast as she could.

"Don't do that." Giant fingers reached for White, scooped her up effortlessly into a loosely curled fist. "Wear your service proudly at all times, little Pearl. You belong to me, after all."

"Yes, my Diamond." She lifted her head once more, stared back dispassionately, fought back her panic as a heavy thumb swept over her gem.

"Good. Now explain yourself. I've so missed your dancing."

The words were light, airy, but that wasn't the truth. White might have fallen for it if she were any other gem, if she didn't know the intricacies of her Diamond after spending every day by her side. Her paranoia seemed so desperately obvious once you recognized it.

"My apologies, my Diamond," White repeated, not breaking eye contact this time. "I discovered that one of the hallways outside had become dirtied and stopped to clean it so that it wouldn't detract from your brilliant presence." If she wasn't terrified, it would have been impossible to keep a straight face.

"Hm." The suspicion in White Diamond's eyes eased, but not all the way. "Very well, Pearl. But next time, you are to report here first."

"Yes, my Diamond."

"Yes," she echoed, lowering her hand to the floor to set White down. "Dance for me now."

And White danced like her life depended on it.

* * *

Her Diamond was satisfied only two dances later, and then she dismissed White curtly, interest no longer held by her newest trinket. "That was exquisite. You are dismissed."

 _Exquisite._ A compliment, but not one White was sure she wanted. At least it meant she was safe for another couple days probably. Maybe less once her Diamond received the news about the missing projector Pearls…but there was every chance the Agate in charge would keep it quiet for her own sake anyway.

"We will have guests occupying the rooms in the south hall soon, Pearl. See to it that they're spotless."

"Yes, my Diamond."

White cleaned one room and then took off. She could finish the rest later.

Back down in the tunnels, she felt like herself again. She ducked into the nearest entrance and hurried back to where she'd left the pink Pearl.

She hadn't moved from her seat on the dingy tunnel floor, the backpack clutched awkwardly to her chest. She jumped when White appeared, then relaxed a little, though she continued to stare at her suspiciously.

"Okay, let's get going," White said, taking the backpack. She settled it carefully between her shoulders. "You look more awake now. Can you walk?"

The pink Pearl didn't answer.

"Hey. We have to get going."

"Where?"

"Somewhere nice," White said impatiently. "Come on."

"What does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. Are you walking or not?"

The Pearl's lips parted slightly, then pinched shut.

"I take it that's a no," White concluded. A lot of Pearls seemed to have trouble saying that word—too foreign to them. "Up we go then." She scooped the pink Pearl up under her arm.

"Hey!" The Pearl was still careful to keep her voice down, but it was far more indignant than scared now. "Put me down!"

Well, she might have trouble with _no_ , but she certainly didn't have any qualms about giving orders when she wanted to. White tightened her grip just in case she started squirming, though the Pearl was still rather limp from whatever the machine had tried to do to her.

"Not happening," White said calmly. "You can decide what you want to do when we get there."

"Get _where?_ "

"Facet Eleven."

"Why are we going to Facet Eleven?"

"Because that's where base is. Can you be quiet now?"

The pink Pearl huffed and fell silent.

White picked up her pace, settling it somewhere between speed-walking and running. The tunnel would get them out to Facet Seven, but there were still plenty of places to get caught out there. Not to mention it _was_ a little difficult walking all that way carrying another Pearl.

When they got as far as the tunnel system would take them, White set the Pearl down for a moment to take a breather. A very short breather, because she knew it was stupid to be doing this when she'd just given her Diamond every reason to be suspicious of her absence. She gathered the Pearl back up again and ignored the small _hmph!_ that escaped her.

Another ten minutes and they were safe enough that she told the other Pearl she could stop being quiet. That was definitely a mistake, because then she was just rewarded with a bunch of weak flailing and instructions to put her down and explain what was going on.

"They'll explain when we get there," White said impatiently, and then steadfastly ignored her for the rest of the walk back.

She was incredibly relieved when she finally arrived at base and hurried inside.

"Crimson, delivery!" White shut the door behind her and scanned the entryway, finding no one there. Maybe she'd be able to just drop the Pearls off and disappear before she got a lecture.

"Put me down! Down!" the Pearl she was holding insisted for what must have been the thousandth time.

"Okay," she agreed, dropping her unceremoniously to the floor. "See? I told you I'd take you somewhere nice, so—"

"White!" Caddy came bursting out of the common room. "Where have you _been?_ "

"On my mission," she answered calmly, pointing to the new Pearl.

"Oh, hi there, great to have you. Please hold on a sec, I have a lot to say to her."

The new Pearl didn't answer her, shuffling quietly sideways when she could see their attention was back on each other.

"Can you hurry it up?" White asked, slipping the backpack off her shoulders and thrusting it into Caddy's arms. "Here, that's the rest of them."

"Whoa, hold up," Caddy protested, taking hold of the backpack carefully. "You want _me_ to hurry? You're the one who's been gone way too long!"

"Don't exaggerate."

"I'm not exaggerating! I thought you might have been caught!"

"I wasn't."

"That's not the point!"

"Then _tell_ me the point," White said impatiently. "I don't see what you're so upset about. Crimson told me to get the Pearls and I got the Pearls. There was a complication with the last one, that's all. My Diamond doesn't suspect anything." _Yet._

"Oh yeah?" Caddy challenged her. "Then why did I have to cover for you when she called _mine_ wondering where you were?"

"You didn't have to. I didn't ask you to cover for me. Besides, I took care of it."

"You—Stars, White! You don't have to ask! That's just what we do!"

"It's what you and Sky do, you mean."

"No, I mean it's what _we_ do, White. You included."

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"The rebellion needs Yellow Diamond's Pearl and Blue Diamond's Pearl more than it needs White's. It's stupid to try and cover for me, Cadmium. They need the intel you're getting them."

Caddy was practically trembling with frustration. "You can call me stupid all you want, but I'm not going to apologize for looking out for you! I'm not! I will never, ever apologize for that! You're important too!"

White didn't know what to say to that. She didn't know what Caddy expected from her.

"I know none of us have been around that long," she continued, voice wavering, "but come on, White. You know what the rebellion stands for, and it's not…it's not this. However you justify it in that clever gem of yours, it's not. We're equals. It doesn't matter how long any of us live, we're all equals and we all take care of each other."

 _What do you think I'm doing?_ The question rose bitter in White's throat but she swallowed it back down, fighting to keep her cool. But really, why did Cadmium _think_ she was trying to cram so much into her short life? She might be a thrill seeker but that wasn't the only reason she did this stuff. She wouldn't have worded it like _take care of each other_ , but—but that was what she was doing. Wasn't that obvious? She was taking care of everything she could for them before she was gone. Whatever she could do, she wanted to do it. Even small things, the "junk" she brought back most days was worth something to a rebellion made up of Pearls who brought very little with them.

"Don't you ever want _more?_ " Caddy pleaded.

"Some Pearls don't get more."

Caddy just looked at her. Stared. Caught her bottom lip in her teeth like that would somehow slow her always free-flowing words. "Well, I wish you'd fight for it all the same."

 _I am._ White didn't say that either, didn't want to admit that the only "fighting" she was truly capable of was playing obedient to her Diamond and trying to give her reasons—in between the real, more important excursions—why she should keep White around.

"White, is that you?"

The two of them were interrupted by Crimson, who came hurrying out to meet them.

"I'm glad you're safe," she continued, relieved. "Can you stay and fill us in?"

"No." The word came out louder than White intended, but she tried to stay composed all the same. "I can't. I got all the Pearls out, all dissipated except this one." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder.

"…Which one?" Crimson asked slowly.

White turned and was shocked by the sudden absence of the pink Pearl that had been behind her. "Uh, well, I guess she's around somewhere. She's kinda out of it, so I doubt she got very far."

" _White_ ," Crimson sighed exasperatedly.

"Blame Cadmium, she was being distracting."

"I have no doubt she was, but _really_ , we can't just have a new Pearl wandering around on her own. She's probably terrified."

White shrugged uncomfortably.

"I'll have some of the others start searching," Crimson decided. "Anyway, are those the other Pearls?" she asked, pointing to the backpack Caddy was holding.

"Yep," the yellow Pearl said. "Where do you want me to take them, boss?"

"The infirmary, I think. I'll meet you over there in a bit, once we find this other Pearl."

"Gotcha."

"What color is she?"

"Um, pink. More like Azalea pink, not Millie pink. With a wrist gem."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"And White—" Crimson broke off, seeing that the other Pearl had vanished as soon as she'd turned her attention away. "I honor your service," she murmured.

* * *

"How do you lose an unpoofed Pearl?" Chroma asked, raising her eyebrows when Crimson appeared in the common room to ask everyone for help.

"Don't ask," she sighed. "Thanks, you guys," she said to the larger group that was beginning to disperse. "If you find her, take her to my office or someplace quiet."

"Will do!" Viri answered cheerfully, the others nodding along too.

"Thanks," she repeated. "Chroma, can you walk with me for a minute?"

"Sure. I was just going to ask you the same thing."

"Oh, alright. You first then."

"It's about Citrine," she began slowly as they headed out. "The fancy Pearl with her gem covered up who stormed out of training the other day?"

"I know who you mean," Crimson said tiredly. "You're actually not the first gem to talk to me. What did she say now?"

"What _hasn't_ she said?" Chroma muttered. "Just—Just stuff about Silver and Aura. Stupid stuff they don't need to hear."

"What about you?" she asked softly.

"I've heard plenty worse than what Citrine can dish out." She paused. "Look, me and you and Sil, we've been on our own enough to not care as much, you know? But some of the others… They're still healing. They don't need another Pearl to come in and pick at their insecurities."

"Yeah, I hear you. I'll have a talk with her."

"Thanks. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, right. I just wanted to check in and see how everything's coming on the warp pad."

"Pretty good," she answered with a shrug. "Still got loads to do. Yellow, Blue, and Lavender are out taking the ship apart, so that'll give us more materials to work with. Oh! That reminds me, we're going to need to get over to Facet Five."

"Five?"

Chroma nodded. "The outskirts. We have to make sure that the warp pad signature doesn't get detected once we start using it."

"Makes sense. Is that something you need to do now, or after you have it built?"

"Anytime really. But it's probably better to do it now, that way we can start test runs whenever we're ready."

"We'll go with that then," Crimson decided.

"Great, thanks. Who can I take?"

"Well, I think I'll turn you over to Cyan for that part, if you don't mind. She's been putting together some small missions so far, getting to know everyone, so it'd be good for her to work on something that requires a little bit more strategy to it."

"Oh, yeah, of course." Chroma laughed a little. "I kind of forgot we have a tactician now. That's good though, it takes some things off your plate." She gave Crimson's arm a friendly squeeze. "I'll go talk to her and set it up then."

"Thanks."

"By the way, Pearl was asking if she could have a screen so she can study up on Era 2 tech," she added. "Is there one she can borrow?"

"I can lend her mine for a day or two at least. I'll take it over there now, do a quick sweep of the living halls for out new guest while I'm at it. Would you mind going over to the entrance, in case she tries to leave?"

"Yeah, no problem. And I'll talk to Cyan later and get back to you?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay, see you later."

"See you."

* * *

If she was honest, Crimson wasn't quite sure what to make of Pearl.

Labeling her as the Renegade was easy, but it was pretty clear she didn't want that defining her, especially since she'd gravitated immediately to building a warp pad over taking on a purely instructive role. And she'd shot down the idea of taking over a leadership position too. Crimson appreciated the level-headedness of that and she appreciated the chance to stay with what she was doing—she hadn't by any means _volunteered_ to be in charge, but she was just starting to feel like she'd gotten the hang of it, that she was good at it even.

But in some ways, when Pearl wasn't busy with training or building, she seemed nearly as skittish as some of the new recruits. She didn't stick around in the common room unless the other Crystal Gems were there too, and even then she didn't seem totally comfortable amongst so many other Pearls. Perhaps it was just unfamiliarity? Crimson wasn't sure.

She swung by her own room to pick up the screen she'd left there and then headed down towards where the Crystal Gems were staying. She kept her eyes peeled for the missing Pearl, but she didn't seem to be on this side of the building. Oh well, she was sure the others would find her soon.

Crimson had nearly made it to Pearl's room when she bumped into Steven—literally, though thankfully she hadn't been moving fast enough for him to get hurt, just jump back with a startled "Oops!"

"Sorry!" Crimson said hastily, stepping back. "I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"

"Yep, I'm okay, don't worry!"

"Sorry," she repeated with a small smile. "I should pay better attention. Or, well, I was paying attention, but I'm used to most gems being my height."

Steven laughed. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"You haven't happened to see a pink Pearl around, have you?"

"No, sorry. Why?"

"White brought back someone new and she disappeared somewhere."

"Oh! Do you need help looking?"

"Sure, that'd be great," Crimson said gratefully. "Thanks. If you do find her, just let someone know and they'll come get me."

"Okay," Steven agreed. "Were you coming to ask Pearl to help too?"

"No, I just wanted to deliver something." For a moment, Crimson considered just giving him the screen to give to Pearl since he was already there, but before she could do that the door swished open beside them.

"Is everything alright?" Pearl asked, poking her head out.

"Oh, yes, hi," Crimson said hastily. "I was just—Chroma said you wanted to borrow one of these?" She offered up the screen.

"Oh, thank you." Pearl took it, then hesitated. "Do you have a moment? These have changed quite a bit since the last time I used them…"

"Sure," she agreed, surprised.

"Excellent. Steven, why don't you go find Amethyst and make sure she and Aura haven't eaten all the tea bags?"

"Can I do that after I help Crimson find the missing Pearl?"

"Ah…" Pearl glanced quickly to Crimson.

"Missing within the base," she clarified quickly, embarrassed. "It's, um, been an eventful day."

"Oh, alright. Yes, go ahead." Pearl placed a hand on Steven's head briefly.

"Okay, see you later!"

Pearl watched him run off to the other end of the hallway and then turn out of sight. "Come on in," she said, moving aside so Crimson could enter. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay." Crimson felt awkward standing there just inside the door, but Pearl hadn't made any real move to sit down or anything. "What's that?"

"I…" Pearl wrung her hands. "I'm not sure how to word this more delicately but…"

"You don't need to make it delicate."

"Yes. Alright." She sighed. "No one here is ready to fight in a rebellion."

"I know most of us don't have any experience but that's why we're training and—"

"No," Pearl interrupted. " _None of you are ready._ Garnet and I have seen firsthand what Homeworld can do, thousands of years ago or not. If you try and fight them, with only this much power and only this many gems, you'll all be shattered."

Crimson's gem went cold at the blunt words.

"And you are fighting in _their_ territory. They will always have that advantage."

"I know," she said quietly. "I know all of that. Are you saying you think this is a lost cause?"

"No, I'm saying that you need to reevaluate. Right now, you're all acting like getting stronger and learning how to use a weapon is what'll save you, and it's not. What's going to save you is playing it smart. Finding a strategy. You need a long-term plan, and I haven't seen one."

Stars, Crimson felt like she'd been made yesterday when she was next to Pearl. She may have been amongst the oldest in the base originally, but Pearl had lived, what, nine times as long as she had? And by measure of experience, even more so.

"I'm not trying to criticize you," Pearl continued, "but I have no desire to see another group of good gems suffer because they underestimated the extent to which Homeworld will go to squash dissent. I will fight by your side, but I can't…" She drew in a labored breath. "I can't fight another war like that. If this turns into their forces against your—our forces, we will lose."

"I understand. I mean, I never planned on—I know we can't go asking for a fight." Crimson bit her lip. "I admire what I know of the Crystal Gems' rebellion, but…like you said, out and out war shouldn't be our first choice. I'm having everybody focus on training right now because—well, because we need it regardless, but also because I think it's best if they can have something solid to work on while we figure out what our long-term plan _is._ "

Pearl nodded. "Which is a good call. I certainly didn't mean to discourage you from training. Just…" She sighed, sitting down in a chair. "I'd like to learn from our past mistakes. We did the best we knew how to at the time and we had a great many victories, but sometimes I go back and pick things apart and wonder if it might have ended differently had we taken another approach."

"You were the first truly successful rebellion. And you did save your planet. I think that's worth something." Crimson shrugged. "I know I'm no Rose Quartz, but I'll fight for my home just as hard as she did for hers."

Pearl shook her head. "No."

"No?"

"No, don't belittle yourself with comparisons. Rose was…Rose was what Earth needed. What the Crystal Gems needed. But I'm not sure she was ever what Pearls needed. I'm not sure I was what…" Tears began to well up in Pearl's eyes, and it took visible effort for her to force them back. "Never mind. What I'm trying to say is: I hope you can learn from us, but please don't copy us without critiquing our decisions."

Crimson nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Okay," Pearl repeated quietly.

"So would you be willing to strategize with us so we can figure a more solid plan than 'rescue all the Pearls'?" Crimson asked with a small smile.

"I would love to help."

"Thanks. And, um, Pearl?"

"Yes?"

"I'm interested in hearing more about the Crystal Gems' rebellion, both professionally and personally, so…feel free to come find me whenever?"

Pearl brightened a little, though her eyes were still teary. "I'll do that."

"Great." Crimson smiled, then gestured awkwardly to the screen that Pearl had set on the desk. "You don't need any help with that at all, do you?"

"No, I used one earlier and found it to be remarkably simplistic."

She laughed. "I'll leave you to it then."

"Thank you for bringing it by, Crimson."

"Yeah, thanks for talking to me. See you later."


	34. Chapter 34

For once, Caddy was itching to leave base, to get back to the Diamonds' courts. She wanted to check on White. Even as frustrated as she was with the other Pearl, she wanted to go and make sure she was okay, or as okay as she could be. White _was_ important. No matter what she said or did, and whether she considered Caddy anything more than an annoying acquaintance or not, there was no way Caddy was going to give up on her. Friends looked after friends.

But first she had to look after these new Pearls like Crimson asked.

Caddy knocked lightly on the door to the infirmary, not wanting to startle the current two residents by barging in unannounced. "It's Caddy! Can I come in?"

"Yeah, go ahead!"

"Thanks!" She opened the door. "Feel free to keep kissing or whatever, don't mind me." She paused as she caught sight of Cyan. She was lying flat on her stomach next to Tangerine with papers scattered all around her, one hand intertwined with hers and the other holding a pen. "Or working, though that's not nearly as interesting."

"I have to put some plans together for upcoming missions," she pointed out, then narrowed her eyes at the bag in Caddy's arms. "What's in there?"

"Pearls."

Cyan gave her a skeptical look.

"No, seriously, it's Pearls," Caddy laughed. "Don't worry, it's not a prank. I won't get glitter on all your notes."

"Good." Cyan sat up, letting go of Tangerine's hand for a moment as she resituated. "The Pearls from the mission then? Was White able to get all of them?"

"Yep, everybody's accounted for."

"That's great," she said happily, squeezing Tangerine's fingers a little tighter. "They're all safe."

"I'm glad," Tangerine murmured. She'd had her eyes closed when Caddy entered but she opened them now, fully awake. "Hi, Caddy."

"Hi! How's it going? You gonna come out and join us anytime soon?"

"Soon," she agreed quietly. "I'm nearly all healed."

"Awesome, I can't wait." Caddy smiled, sitting down on a sliver of bed that wasn't covered by papers. "Wanna see our new friends? I need to check and see if they need this healing stuff anyway."

"I'd love to." Tangerine sat up a little straighter in bed as Caddy opened up the pack and began removing layers of blanket and the Pearls between them.

When she was finished, they were laid out in two small rows. A variety of colors, and Caddy was happy to see none of them had been marred by scuffs or cracks. They'd be okay, and they'd be able to decide their own futures now.

"They're so beautiful, aren't they?" Tangerine murmured, hand hovering over the nearest ones, only a featherlight touch before withdrawing. There was genuine care in her voice, but something else too, something Caddy could all too easily recognize the sound of, especially when Tangerine's other hand had twitched towards her own discolored gem.

"Mmhm," Caddy hummed lightly. "Just like all our other new rebels, right?"

The gentle teasing—because it was impossible to miss the wink Caddy threw in their direction—seemed to startle Tangerine into a smile.

Cyan immediately followed it up with a blushy but decidedly adamant "Yes."

Caddy laughed. "You talking about Tangy or Blue there, Miss Starry Eyes?"

For a moment, all she could get out was incoherent sputtering, and Tangerine started giggling too. "I was trying to be romantic, Caddy!" Cyan protested.

"I know, I know, it was just too good of an opportunity to pass up!" She tugged a little on Cyan's hair and earned herself a mildly irritated swat. "Anyway, enough teasing," she decided with a grin. "I've gotta get these guys taken care of. They look okay, but I think I'll just dunk 'em all in the tear stuff to be safe."

"I was about to suggest the same thing," Tangerine said, sobering. "It might be best to leave their gems immersed for a little while, since Homeworld was messing around with them…"

"Good thinking."

"Can you tell me more about the mission?" Cyan asked as Caddy got up and opened the nearest container of healing tears.

"Oh, sure. I mean, I don't know much. You know how White is."

"Not really," she commented. "We haven't even met her yet."

Caddy shrugged, frowning as she came back to retrieve the Pearls from the bed. "She's just… I don't know, I don't wanna talk about it right now."

"Oh, okay."

"She doesn't really talk to me. Or anybody, I guess."

Cyan nodded. "But she did at least bring them home. Eight Pearls. That's something."

"Nine."

"Huh?"

"There's nine, we lost one." Caddy caught the beginnings of sadness in their eyes and quickly shook her head. "No, no, like we lost her because she ran off. Everybody's looking for her around base."

"You _lost her?_ " Cyan repeated incredulously. "How does a whole entire Pearl just up and disappear without anyone noticing?"

"…Okay, I'm going to count to three and see if our tactician can see the irony in that statement."

A flustered blue immediately rose to Cyan's cheeks again, and Tangerine made a valiant effort not to laugh.

"There it is, I knew you had it in ya," Caddy teased. She scooped up the last two Pearls and went back over to the healing tears. "Do I just drop them in?" she asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," Tangerine answered, sliding her hand into Cyan's again. "You should probably leave the lid off in case any of them reform."

"Right!" Caddy picked up the first Pearl and set the gem in gently. "Ooh, feels neat," she said as the cool liquid surrounded her arm. She lifted her hand out and let a few stray drops fall onto her gem. "Kinda refreshing. So is this literal tears?"

"I assumed it was," Cyan answered distractedly.

"Damn, that's a lot of crying."

She let out a startled laugh, looking up from the documents that had drawn her attention again. "That was my first thought too."

"Right?" Caddy grinned. She added the rest of the Pearls in one by one, then rested her chin on the edge of the container as she looked at them. "Welcome to the rebellion," she said softly. "I can't wait to meet you." She sat up, twisting to face Cyan and Tangerine. "Is it okay if I hang out here for a bit till Crimson comes by?"

"Sure, that's fine."

"Awesome, thanks! I promise I won't interrupt your scheming."

"Strategizing."

"Scheming sounds more exciting." Caddy stretched, smiling at the eye roll she got. "So do I get to go on your next mission?" she asked curiously.

"No way."

She clutched at her gem dramatically. "And I thought we were friends!"

"Friends has nothing to do with it," Cyan said, amused. "You're way too high risk right now to be going on missions."

"Fine, fine, I get it. But when me and Sky are out of service, you better find something really cool for us to do!"

"Understood," she laughed. "Only the coolest missions for you."

"Right!" Caddy leaned back, lounging against the container of tears. "And Tangy too, she's definitely cool enough to join us."

"Thanks," Tangerine laughed. "What about Cyan though?"

"Well…I _guess_ she can come along. Just to even out the ratio of yellow-y gems to blue-y gems."

"Why you!" Cyan tossed her pen in Caddy's direction, clicking her tongue when Caddy caught it and spun it in her palm. "You'll be lucky if you get any missions if you're going to be like that," she said good-naturedly.

"I'll take my chances," Caddy said with a wink, throwing the pen back to her easily. "Okay, get to work, I don't want you telling the boss I've been distracting you."

"I don't think she'll need us to tell her. Your distraction techniques are clearly legendary."

Caddy laughed and propped one leg up on top of the other. "Thank you."

It felt nice, just being able to breathe and let her mind wander. That was what she loved about the rebellion, just being here and existing with everyone else and enjoying life far more than she ever could beside her Diamond.

Why couldn't White have this too? Why couldn't she stick around sometimes, enjoy herself and see the lasting effects of her own accomplishments, the best parts? Why wouldn't she let them try to give her that chance?

 _Some Pearls don't get more._

Well, Caddy was going to prove her wrong. Somehow.

* * *

Viri had readily volunteered to help search the base, but it had been a while and she was starting to get worried that no one had found the new Pearl yet. Had something happened to her? Or had she somehow gotten outside? No, no, Caddy and White wouldn't have missed her leaving, whatever kind of words they'd been exchanging at the time. And Pearls had been trading off watching the door ever since. So…

 _What would I do if White dragged me to a brand-new place with a bunch of strangers around?_

If Viri was honest, her answer would have been "talk to everyone!" but she was ninety-nine percent sure this new Pearl didn't share the sentiment or they wouldn't be searching for her.

So…the opposite? Find somewhere quiet?

The pink Pearl wouldn't know where that would be, but she could have easily just stayed in the first empty room she found. That probably meant she was somewhere on the east side of the building, perhaps near storage? Viri headed over there, waving to a couple friends along the way.

The first room she checked was empty, and the second one just had Snow in it, who shrugged. "I haven't seen her, and there's already been a couple other Pearls searching over here. You're welcome to go through the rooms again though."

"Okay, thanks!"

Viri continued checking the rooms one by one, searching each closet and corner in case the Pearl had hidden herself away. So far, there was no sign of her.

It was only when she neared the far end of the hall that she heard something—tiny sniffling noises coming from a nearby room.

Quietly, carefully, she followed the sound until she reached what must have been the right door. She hesitated, not sure whether to announce herself first or just enter, not wanting to spook the newcomer any more than she already had been by her sudden arrival.

Well, it couldn't hurt to say hello first, right? Even if the Pearl was scared, it wasn't as if there was anywhere she could run away to this time. Viri knocked quietly on the door and heard a sharp gasp. "Hello," she called, as quietly as she could without going unheard. "I'm just here to check on you. Is it okay if I come in?"

No answer, aside from muffled sobs, reached her.

"I want to make sure you're okay, that's all," Viri promised. "So I'm going to open the door. I won't hurt you."

The silence that answered her was far from an invitation, but Viri swiped a finger over the door panel anyway and opened it. She took a couple steps forward, slow and careful so as not to startle her, and then shut it behind her.

This storage room, like many of the others, was mostly empty. There were just enough boxes in the farthest corner for the pink Pearl to hide amongst, to be concealed from anyone just looking in from the doorway, but not many. When Viri moved a little further in, she could see her huddled between them and it was heartbreaking. Ragged, stifled sobs continued to spill past the hands she'd pressed to her mouth, and her hair fell over her face messily. Her hunched posture made her look as if she expected Viri to shatter her.

"Hi," Viri whispered, kneeling down a fair distance away, trying not to make her feel trapped. "It's okay, I promise. No one's going to hurt you here."

The pink Pearl rubbed at her face, trembling.

"My name's Viri." She hesitated. "I know this is probably pretty different from what you're used to, but I promise it's better. You're free now, and you can do whatever you want."

She just looked at Viri, hidden gaze seeming to travel to the elongated gem on Viri's chest, not sure what to make of it.

"I'm a Pearl like you, I'm just a little different," she explained softly.

The pink Pearl turned away, still hiccupping with sobs.

"It's kinda scary being somewhere new, huh? With all these new Pearls around?" Viri smiled sympathetically. "It was tough for me too, even though I chose to come here."

She didn't get any response, so she pressed on.

"Hey, but you have friends here already, right? So you're gonna be just fine."

"Wh-What…?" It was the first thing she'd said, and Viri felt a flood of sadness at how scared she sounded.

"Your friends, the other Pearls?" she prompted encouragingly. "I know it might be a couple weeks before they're back, but you'll all be together soon."

The Pearl shook her head, trembling. "I-I don't know them…"

"You don't? But you all came from the same place."

"Not exactly…"

"Oh." Viri bit her lip, wishing she'd thought to ask more about these Pearls before she went looking. "I'm sorry."

The pink Pearl shrugged.

"Well, maybe you can make friends with them now, right?" She leaned forward a little. "And you can be friends with me."

That got her attention at least, though the tears kept coming.

"I could help you learn your way around and introduce you to some other friends too. Would you like that?"

"But I don't even know you," she whispered uncertainly.

"Not yet," she said with a smile.

"And I don't understand where I am. The white Pearl wouldn't tell me anything after she stole me."

"Yeah, sorry about that. White's good at getting things done, but she's not great at talking. But I can take you to someone who is."

The thought of leaving the room made her scrunch back a little further amongst the boxes. "Why can't you tell me?"

"I can, if you want me to."

The Pearl hesitated, then nodded slightly.

"Okay."

And Viri told her. She told her everything about the rebellion that she could think of, from what they did to what they believed in to all the wonderful Pearls she got to share her new life with. Even what her own first day had been like and how scared she'd been to leave behind her old home.

Slowly, as Viri spoke, the Pearl leaned forward, then gradually began scooting across the floor towards her, inch by inch. Viri smiled, careful not to move and startle her, and soon they were only about a foot apart.

"Hi," she said gently.

"Hi." The Pearl's voice was still wary, but not nearly as shaky as it had been before. She blinked quickly as she pushed her unkempt hair from her face.

"Oh!" Viri said, surprised. "You have eyes!"

The Pearl stared at her incredulously. "…Yes?"

"I mean, sorry, I know someone—one of the Pearls I was in service with—and she had hair kind of like yours but no eyes, so I guess I expected…" She shook her head as she continued to receive only a confused look. "But eyes are great! They look great on you! Definitely!"

To her amazement, the pink Pearl started to laugh—quietly, but still a laugh, and Viri was delighted to see her stop crying. "You're nice," the Pearl murmured, quieting. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Viri noticed that she kept having to push her hair back and reached to her gem to pull out a hair band. She held it up for the other Pearl to inspect. "Would you like some help?"

"…Okay," she agreed cautiously, moving a little closer and inclining her head.

Surprised but happy with the gesture of trust, Viri carefully swept her fingers underneath her top layer of hair that kept obscuring her eyes. Taking the same amount from all around her head, she gathered it up into a small ponytail and slipped the band over it, looping it one, two, three times. "How's that?" she asked, withdrawing. "Not too tight?"

"It's good." The Pearl smiled uncertainly. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

"Why did you have…?" She slowly reached out and touched Viri's hair, most of which was too short to keep in a ponytail.

"My girlfriend works in the forge and says it's a fire hazard to have the long bits hanging down like this," Viri laughed, demonstrating how she could pull the longer strands of hair back so they didn't dangle. "She's sweet to worry, but she catches fire way more often than I do."

The Pearl looked mildly alarmed at the statement, but settled when she saw that Viri was still laughing.

"Anyway, you can keep it," she continued. "I'll find another one; I think Steven brought some and he offered to do my hair the other day. It'll be fun, you should come too!"

"Mm-hm," she said uncertainly, beginning to look nervous again.

"Hey, here, why don't you take this too?" Viri added, hand going to her gem again to retrieve a handkerchief. "So you can clean up and feel better?"

The Pearl nodded gratefully, accepting it and beginning to wipe at her face gingerly. Viri waited patiently for her to finish, then gestured for her to keep it.

"Much better," she said gently. "How would you feel about coming with me now? We can find you somewhere more comfortable to stay."

"Comfortable? But…" She faltered when Viri only tilted her head curiously. "O-Okay. Sure."

"Thanks."

Viri stood up slowly and walked to the door, opening it up once more and taking only one step outside before waiting for the other Pearl to join her. "We're not going very far," she said encouragingly as the smaller Pearl fell into step beside her. She tried to slow her own pace, account for her added length of stride. "Just straight out this way and then left."

"Okay."

Viri led her out of the storage rooms, waving briefly to Snow and giving her a thumbs up. She smiled back, waving.

There was a fair amount of Pearls around once they reached the main hallway, and Viri quickly located Ory in the mix and got her attention. "Hey, Ory! Could you go tell Crimson I found our missing Pearl, please? I'm taking her over to her office."

"O-Okay, I'll find her right away!"

"Thanks!" Viri called after her as she took off. With that, she guided the new Pearl over to Crimson's little office, closing the door behind them to block out the busyness of the hallway beyond. "Here we go. You can sit down."

The Pearl sat tentatively on the edge of one chair, looking around the small triangular room. "Who's Crimson?"

"She's our leader," Viri said, taking the seat next to her. "The Pearl who brought me here, like I was talking about before? She can seem a little intimidating sometimes but she's super nice, so you don't need to be scared."

"Okay."

It only took a few minutes for Crimson to come in, smiling as she saw the new Pearl waiting there beside Viri. "Hi," she greeted her. "It's great to have you here. I hope you'll forgive our less-than-ideal first impression earlier."

She nodded uncertainly.

"My name's Crimson. Has Viri already told you a little bit about us?"

"Yes."

"Good, that's great. Thank you," she added in Viri's direction. "Well, I don't want to keep you here very long, but just know that you're safe, alright?"

She nodded again.

"Okay." Crimson reached to her desk and scribbled something on a blank sheet of paper. "Viri, this is how to set the door to accept a personalized code. She can take one of the couple empty rooms we've still got."

"Got it!" Viri answered cheerfully.

"Thank you again. Oh, and I need to go by the infirmary anyways, so I'll bring you some healing tears to use. Better safe than sorry."

"Okay! I'll get her all settled in."

The new Pearl didn't say anything, but she inclined her head briefly towards Crimson before following Viri out.

"See?" Viri said encouragingly as she guided the new Pearl down another hallway. "Everything's okay now." She didn't get a response, but she skipped ahead happily to the nearest unoccupied room, located next to Snow's. "This'll be you!"

"Me?"

"Yeah. Here, you can set your passcode like…there." She pressed a couple buttons. "Go ahead. I'm going to run down to the other end of the hall real quick, okay? I need to talk to Azalea, plus it'll give you some privacy to decide. I'll be right back."

"Alright…"

Viri gave her a warm smile and took off, hurrying all the way over to Azalea's room and knocking. "Hey there," she greeted the blacksmith when she poked her head out.

"Hi, Viri. What are you…?"

"I'm here to wish you luck at your strategy meeting!"

"O-Oh." Azalea smiled as Viri took her hands.

"I know you're nervous, but you'll do really well, I know it."

"Thanks," she whispered, looking up into her eyes.

"Would you like a good luck kiss? Or a hug?"

"I…I'd appreciate either," Azalea said slowly.

"Then both it is," Viri declared, wrapping her arms gently around her girlfriend and lifting her just a little bit off the ground. Azalea's arms came up to hold on around her neck, and she beamed as Viri slipped a supportive arm under her as they kissed. "Best of luck," she said, bumping their noses together.

"Thank you." Azalea leaned in, soot-dusted and sturdy arms slipping down to wind tight around Viri's back. "How've you been?"

"Good! I found the new Pearl and I was showing her to her new room now." She turned so Azalea could see down the hall over her shoulder. "That's her! I gave her a ponytail too, see?"

"You really like ponytails, don't you?" she laughed quietly.

"Not that much! Well, I guess maybe I do. But mostly just a certain gem with a ponytail," she teased, ruffling Azalea's. "Cutie."

Azalea blushed, hiding her face against Viri's hair as she hugged her even tighter. "You too," she mumbled. "You should get back to her," she added. "It can be kind of intimidating at first, having all that space, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Viri kissed her repeatedly on her cheek until she raised her head, then planted another on the opposite side before lowering her to the floor gently. "And you're off to see Cyan soon?"

"Not right away, but yeah, soon…"

"Mmkay. I'll stop back in afterwards so you can tell me about it?"

Azalea nodded shyly, straightening her ponytail.

"Alright. You'll do great, I'll see you later!"

"See you later."

Viri blew her a kiss, then spun around to skip back over to the new Pearl. It didn't seem as though she'd moved from her spot outside the door, which was still shut.

"I'm back! Hey, you okay?" Viri asked. "Did you set your passcode?"

"…Shouldn't you set it?" the Pearl asked uncomfortably.

"But it's your room."

"Mine?"

"Yeah, see?" She exited out of the passcode screen and opened the door with a quick finger swipe. "You get a room all to yourself."

"Oh," she breathed, taking in the simplistic furnishings with wide eyes. "I…I don't need someplace this big…"

"Sure you do. You can fill it up with whatever you want. If you want to stay."

"Okay," the pink Pearl said uncertainly.

"Do you want to just sit down together for a little while until Crimson gets here?" Viri offered. "I don't have anywhere I need to be."

"Okay."

"Okay." She smiled, waiting patiently for the Pearl to take the first steps into her new room.

It was always a special part of someone's introduction to the rebellion, and this time was no different. Viri watched her circle the room slowly, then pause in front of the door, looking up at her expectantly. "It's mine?"

"Yeah," she said warmly. "Welcome home."

* * *

"Shame we missed out on the excitement earlier," Blue commented as she and Yellow made their way over to meet with Cyan and the others. They'd been called over almost immediately after they'd returned from their work on dissembling the ship. "I feel so official though, going to a strategy meeting! Isn't it great?"

"It's not going to be that exciting of an excursion," Yellow grumbled under her breath. "We're just sneaking in to mess with their systems and make sure they won't be able to detect our warp pad usage. It's going to take all of five minutes once we get there."

Blue shrugged. "Doesn't matter, it's still exciting! And it's nice to watch you work."

Yellow's mouth quirked up in a half-smile. "You can do that anytime."

"Yeah, but usually I don't get to guard you while you're doing it."

"Well, I hope you won't have to this time either." Honestly, Yellow wasn't sure why Blue was even coming on this mission—not that she didn't want her there, but it was hardly necessary. She might have an edge on the rebellion's other fighters from Pearl's training and a small amount of practical experience, but it still wasn't a big one. _And_ she'd have to go the extra step of disguising herself when they went out, same as Yellow, because they most certainly couldn't have presumed-dead escapees running around central Homeworld. She wasn't sure the benefits outweighed that.

But whatever, it was meant to be Cyan's job to analyze all that. She might be amusingly enamored with Blue, but Yellow had seen her on occasion around base after their first meeting and she'd seemed dedicated enough to her work.

Yellow saw Blue's expectant stare and slipped her hand into hers reassuringly. "But I'll be glad to have you there."

Blue smiled, relief washing away any uncertainty, and Yellow wondered why this was so important to her.

When they reached the room that had been deemed the strategy room—though it currently consisted of one table and six chairs—Cyan welcomed them in professionally.

"Thank you for coming, Please, grab a seat. Azalea's already here, so we're just waiting for Chroma now."

"I'm here!" The black Pearl hurried in right behind them, quickly taking a chair beside Azalea, who was just observing the rest of them quietly. "Had a bit of a problem in comms, sorry."

"No, no, it's alright." Cyan took a seat at the head of the table and waited for Blue and Yellow to join them. Her gaze kept flicking between the chair nearest her and Blue, a spark of hopefulness in her eye.

Yellow was of half a mind to take that spot instead, but she figured that wasn't very sporting. She gravitated to the other chair, leaving Blue to sit next to Cyan. Blue seemed to notice the tiny hesitation and gave Yellow's knee a little squeeze under the table.

"Wow, you made so many notes already," Blue said, leaning over to squint at Cyan's papers, currently spread out neatly side by side.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I did," Cyan laughed nervously. "I'm still learning about everybody, so…yeah. Anyway, thank you again for coming. All of you." She cleared her throat. "I know this is your first time working with me, but I hope we can all get along. This is just a quick meeting to make sure we've all got a basic idea of what'll happen. If you have any kind of suggestions or advice you'd like to give at any point, it'll really help, so please speak up."

The four of them watched her, waiting patiently for her to continue.

"Okay?" Cyan prompted when nobody said anything.

"Okay," Blue agreed, the other three nodding.

"Good. Okay." She looked down at the papers she had in front of her. "So, Facet Five. How many of you are familiar with the area?"

"It's one of Yellow Diamond's," Yellow said with a shrug. "I know it well enough."

"Me too," Chroma offered. "I served nearby."

"Oh, excellent. Which facet would that be?"

"Thirteen."

"Alright, thank you." Cyan made a small note in the margins. "I was expecting it to be just Yellow. Okay, so we'll have your practical knowledge plus the maps we've managed to acquire. And it'll be the two of you who are conducting the actual…hacking thing too."

"Right," Yellow said.

"And Azalea and I are backup?" Blue prompted, eyes bright.

"Exactly," Cyan agreed. "You're both capable fighters from what I've gathered and, since this is one of the first riskier objectives we're attempting, I think it's wise to send more than just two Pearls in. I'd rather send too many than too few right now."

She nodded.

"Are you both comfortable with that?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Azalea?"

"Oh…yes. Sorry." She shrank down in her chair a little bit.

"If you'd rather I pick someone else—"

"No, it's okay," she said quietly.

"You're sure?"

Azalea nodded.

"Alright." Cyan smiled. "I've heard you're a pretty versatile fighter since you work with so many different weapons, so I thought you'd be a good fit."

"Oh." A small smile lit up her face. "Thanks."

"And Blue and Yellow are both able to summon, which puts you ahead of the curve," she continued. "I think it's the safest combination I can come up with. You're all okay working together, right?"

Yellow glanced across the table at Chroma and Azalea. Chroma was friendly and they'd bonded over tech, but it wasn't as if they knew each other on a personal level very well yet. And Azalea…even less. She wasn't even sure if she'd spoken to her since their first introduction, never mind trained with her.

Chroma, when she caught Yellow's eye, seemed to be just as uncertain about the arrangement, but she just gave her a half-shrug and nodded. Blue did too, and Azalea.

Well, it wasn't as if they had any problems with each other, Yellow decided, nodding along. At least she and Blue were a good team, she knew that much.

Cyan seemed to sense some of their hesitation. "…I can come with you too, if that would help. I _do_ realize you haven't all had time to get to know each other's strengths very well yet, so maybe it would be best if I tag along, to get a better idea of—"

"We'll be okay," Blue interrupted reassuringly. "Promise. Can you walk us through the plan?"

"Of course."

As Yellow had expected, it was a pretty straightforward plan. The four of them would walk towards the central hub, only as far as they needed to reach the nearest tunnels. Then those would take them out to Facet Five, where they'd come back above ground and find the place they needed.

"Now once you're inside," Cyan continued, "you'll have two ways out, as far as I can tell. One is the main door, and the other is this little passage. It's one of the old kind of maintenance tunnels, the ones that run below ground and are significantly smaller. You'll need to shapeshift for that. It's more of an emergency exit though—I don't anticipate you needing to use it, but I want to be prepared. Is everyone good there?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Blue said.

"Yeah?" She checked to make sure the rest of them didn't have anything to add. "Okay. That's pretty much it; you'll be getting back exactly the same way you took to get there."

Yellow nodded, ready to get back to work already. These wouldn't be particularly hard instructions to follow.

"Everyone's okay with this? No questions or…?" Cyan watched the four of them shaking their heads, looking slightly disheartened. "Okay. Well, thank you. Um, I'll have a comm line open the whole time—we only have one working set of communicators right now so there's not enough for all of you, but one of you can wear it and relay information to me if needed."

"Yeah, I'll check in with Aura and make sure everything's working right," Chroma added. "Who should have it?"

"Hmm…" Cyan looked them over. "If you do end up in an altercation, we don't want it to get damaged, so…either you or Yellow?"

"You can have it," Yellow said to Chroma.

"Okay." She smiled, running a nervous hand through her hair. "I should be off then, if we're all good to go…?"

"Oh, yes, go right ahead! I'm sure all of you have things to do." Cyan smiled. "We'll meet up at least one more time before you go; I don't want to rush into this. Thank you again for coming."

"Anytime." Chroma gave her a little pat on the shoulder as she headed for the door. "And thank you too."

"Thanks," Azalea echoed, slipping out behind her.

"You're doing really well," Blue said kindly, pausing in front of Cyan before she and Yellow followed them. "It's hard to believe you've never done this before."

She brightened. "Thanks. I just hope it goes well for you. Let me know if you want to change anything, okay?"

"Oh, I don't think we need to. You did some really good work."

"You did," Yellow agreed. She appreciated having a specific plan in place ahead of time, it was nicer than the on-the-spot thinking they'd had to do both in leaving Homeworld and in their adventures on Earth.

"Thank you!" Cyan saw them off cheerfully and then disappeared back into the strategy room as Blue and Yellow made their way down the hall.

Yellow let Blue sweep her hand into a little back and forth sway between them as they walked, smiling to herself as Blue's excitement shone through on their way to find Steven and the others to tell them all about their meeting. Yellow couldn't help but begin to share her enthusiasm for this excursion and the little team they'd be a part of. Even though she still didn't know how hopeful she should let herself be about their small rebellion, this did seem like a good start.


	35. Chapter 35

"Are you all ready to go? Is there anything else you need me to do?"

Pearl had been fussing about for the last hour or so, checking and rechecking their plans. Yellow was getting mildly irritated at this point, but Chroma seemed to be enjoying it, asking Pearl questions and answering hers. Cyan too, though now her interest had been drawn elsewhere.

"We're fine, Pearl," Blue said cheerfully as she let Steven play with her recently-shapeshifted shorter hairstyle. "Right, Garnet? Or is it cheating to use your future vision?"

"Future vision is never cheating," the fusion answered, tilting her visor down briefly to wink at her. "But you'll do best today if you don't get caught up in too many possibilities."

"See? We'll be fine! And it's our first mission, so we'll definitely be at the top of our game!"

"Alright, alright. I just want to be sure you're prepared. I wish I could go with you."

"Yeah, shame you got _grounded_ ," Amethyst teased.

"I'm not grounded!" she said indignantly. "My gem is just too recognizable!"

"Well, if you can't go anywhere, that seems pretty grounded to me." She gave Pearl a friendly poke. "But hey, at least we're all grounded together."

"True enough."

"What's grounded?" Cyan asked distractedly as she ran one last check on the communicators. "Chroma, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Grounded is when you get in trouble and you don't get to go do fun things," Steven volunteered.

"Ah."

"It's not a bad thing," he added when he saw her expression. "Or, well, it's bad, but it's not mean. Does that make sense?"

"I think so," Cyan replied.

He nodded seriously, then turned his attention to Blue again, letting her hair flop back down into place. "Shouldn't Yellow change her hair too?"

"I will," Yellow said. "I'll do it right before we go, it's annoying."

"This _is_ right before you go, Yellow," Pearl pointed out.

Yellow rolled her eyes and shifted her hair longer, simultaneously switching out her clothes for a simple leotard as Blue had done. "There."

"Come here," Blue said, beckoning her over and then ruffling Yellow's hair energetically. "There. _Now_ it's perfect."

"Now it's a mess!"

"And Yellow Diamond's old Pearl wouldn't be caught dead with messy hair," she laughed. "Stop trying to fix it."

"I'll help!" Steven volunteered, and Yellow reluctantly let him mess up her hair some more.

"You guys sure you're all set to go?" Amethyst asked, coming over and using the bed as a stepstool so she could join in as well.

"We're _fine_ ," Yellow insisted, pushing her away.

"Okay, okay. Come back safe, alright?" There was genuine worry in Amethyst's voice, Yellow realized, even if it was overshadowed by Pearl's more obvious fretting.

"We'll be fine," she repeated.

"We know you can handle it." Garnet placed a hand lightly on her head. "But it doesn't mean we won't worry about you."

"Thanks," Yellow said, irritation soothed somewhat. For the three of them, even being on Homeworld must seem a much bigger danger than anything they'd faced on Earth in recent years.

"You're welcome," Garnet replied, giving Yellow's hair an extra tousle for good measure and smiling when the Pearl ducked out from under her hand, scowling.

"Does anyone _else_ want a turn or are we done?" she muttered.

"Pass," Chroma said with a grin. "How about you, Pearl?"

"Well, I'm not sure it's necessary to make such a mess of things."

" _Thank_ you," Yellow said.

"But since it's already been done…" Pearl stepped forward smartly and removed the clips now hanging from Yellow's hair, only adding to the chaotic arrangement as she gently tugged them away from unruly strands. "There's not much need for these."

"The voice of reason," she said sarcastically, accepting the clips back when Pearl held them out so she could store them inside her gem. Yellow darted her other hand out as she did, aiming to mess up Pearl's hair in retaliation, only to have her wrist caught immediately.

"No thank you," Pearl said firmly, lifting her chin slightly. "You'll have to be quicker than that."

"I will be next time."

"You can certainly try." She smiled a little, grip slackening.

"Hmph." Yellow tugged her arm away and crossed it over her chest with the other. "You'll see when I get back."

"It'll be an excellent way to assess your progress." Pearl paused, growing serious again. "Today—Do be careful out there."

"We will." It was Blue who spoke, before Yellow got a chance, coming over and giving Pearl a quick hug. It didn't seem to bother her at all that Pearl was too surprised to get her arms up in time to return it. "We promise."

"Alright…"

"See you soon?"

"Yes. Yes, I'll see you soon." Pearl gave the two of them a more confident, if still anxious, smile.

The other Crystal Gems hurried to bid them good luck too, and Yellow and Blue were crammed into an unceremonious group hug before everyone headed out, leaving only the Pearls taking part in the mission—Cyan, Chroma, Azalea, Blue, and Yellow.

"You all feel prepared?" Cyan checked one last time. "Nothing new you've thought of since we last met?"

She was met with a small chorus of nos.

"Okay, in that case…um, I guess we're all set. You can head out as soon as you're ready."

There was no reason any of them could find to delay their departure, so the four Pearls started for the base's exit.

Blue's hand settled firm into Yellow's for the short walk there, then squeezed it tight once as they stepped outside and let go.

* * *

The two of them continued to walk side by side as they made their way in toward central Homeworld to get to the tunnels. It was a strange sort of nostalgia, being next to Blue on this planet, sharing audacious plans of something their Diamonds wouldn't have dreamed possible. Yellow wasn't sure she _liked_ it, but the familiarity gave her confidence.

It wasn't until Chroma led them to the nearest underground entrance that they felt safe to talk, though they kept it in soft voices to be careful.

"Hey, Azalea," Chroma said, her fluffy manually-ponytailed hair bouncing gently against her back as she made her pace a friendly match for the blacksmith's.

"Hey," she answered quietly.

"Is this your first time out?"

Azalea shook her head. "I, um…gather materials…for the forge…"

"Oh, of course, sorry." She shook her head, smiling. "Scavenging missions can be pretty fun, maybe we can go together sometime."

"Yeah…"

The conversation seemed about ready to come to a standstill, but then Blue jumped in, jogging a couple steps to catch up to them. "So have you had a chance to meet the new Pearl yet?"

"Yeah, Viri introduced us," Azalea said softly.

"Lucky, I haven't yet. How is she?"

"I…think she's doing okay."

"That's great!"

Azalea nodded.

"Does she have a name yet?"

"Mm-hm. Drini."

"Drini?" Blue repeated curiously.

She nodded again.

"That's different," Chroma commented, sounding pleased.

"What's a Drini? Does it mean something?" Yellow asked from behind her.

Azalea jumped, a little startled, and then shrugged shyly. "Seemed rude to ask…" she murmured almost inaudibly.

"Well, it's a nice name, whatever it means," Blue decided. "Does everyone pick something out for themselves so quickly or…?"

"Some of us do, some of us don't," Chroma answered. "I chose mine pretty much right after Crimson and Silver took me in. And you chose yours pretty fast too, right, Azalea?"

"Yeah."

"Thought so. Not everybody does though, and we try not to make anyone feel pressured to choose faster. I think we have…one or two Pearls right now that don't have names yet? Not counting the dissipated projector Pearls, of course."

Blue nodded. "That makes sense. If you don't mind me asking, how did you two pick your names? They're both really pretty."

That earned her two blushes—or one blush from Azalea and one reaction that probably indicated a blush from Chroma, since her dark skin didn't seem to ever visibly gain color.

"Thanks," Chroma said as Azalea echoed the same. She waited patiently for the other Pearl to answer first.

"I, um, just looked at different words," Azalea offered. "From the bits of information about Earth in the files…"

"That's how most of us do it," Chroma added, smiling reassuringly at the pink Pearl. "Aura and Millie have a list of possibilities going, to make it easier for the newer recruits to pick something. Most everyone picks colors and flowers, though there are exceptions here and there. I guess I kind of am myself."

"'Chroma' _is_ a little different," Blue agreed. "But it's still a color thing, right?"

"Yeah." She brightened. "It's, ah, sort of an intentional misnomer? I used to get called 'dull' because I was pretty bad at reforming with anything colorful or interesting on."

"But you have all this nice color on now!" Blue protested, touching the arm of her dress lightly where the silver and gold bands circled it.

"Yeah, I've gotten a little better." She looked pleased. "Anyway, I was tired of having gems label me that way, so I picked Chroma. Intensity of color."

"Ooh, I like it even more now!"

Chroma laughed. "Thanks." She looked around as they reached a split in the tunnel. "Left here."

"Should we check in with Cyan?" Yellow asked as they turned.

"Yeah, best to be safe." Chroma touched the communicator that she'd placed opposite the gem on her forehead, covered by her hair. "Cyan?"

The device didn't allow for anyone else to hear the response, but there must have been one immediately because Chroma spoke again.

"Yeah, no trouble. We're under Facet Six now, on our way to Five." A small pause. "Yeah, thanks. Um, we just figured we should check in. If you want us to do that." She waited, then nodded before realizing the gesture went unseen. "Right, no problem. Talk to you soon." Chroma switched the communicator off again. "Okay, she just said to check in when we get there and again when we leave."

"Alright!" Blue said cheerfully. "How far do we have to go now?"

"A decent amount, but we can speed up our pace if you like. Maybe not _running_ , just in case, but we can walk faster."

"Sounds good to me."

"Yeah, let's go," Yellow agreed. Traveling in the tunnels was eerily calm, dulling her alertness to her surroundings only to have it spike back up again when she caught her attention slipping. She didn't want to be taken by surprise somehow.

She sped up alongside the others, initially staying beside Blue but then walking slightly behind her when Chroma wanted to ask her a few technical questions. Blue just smiled and fell into step beside Azalea instead, trying to strike up a conversation—unsuccessfully, it seemed.

Yellow didn't think her conversation with Chroma was going all that much better. They might have similar interests, but over the past few days she had quickly learned that while Chroma's work was surprisingly good, she didn't know the names of most pieces of equipment. Yellow spent most of her time trying to figure out what "the round thing that connects to the spinny part" or "the bit that always breaks" meant.

"It _does_ always break," Chroma pointed out when Yellow told her the right name.

"It does," Yellow agreed reluctantly. "There's a reason Homeworld came up with a better version."

"Well, unless White happens to steal the better kind, we're stuck with the breaking ones."

"Is White the only Pearl who steals things?" Yellow asked curiously. "You never talk about anyone else bringing supplies."

"White's the most…prolific, but no, she's not the only one. Caddy and Sky do on occasion, and a handful of other Pearls who aren't likely to get caught—but it's tricky."

"You can't steal anything that gems will take notice of, so it's all old."

"Exactly." Chroma shrugged. "But it's better than nothing. Between that and the scavenging missions in all the deserted areas around here, we're on our way to having a steady supply of basic components to work with."

Yellow nodded.

"This should be it up here," Chroma added, pointing up to the next trapdoor.

"This one?" Blue turned to look over her shoulder. "Okay. I can go up first and make sure it's safe."

"I can go," Azalea offered quietly.

"No, no, I don't mind! Can you just give me a leg up?"

Azalea did, and Blue was able to clamber up out of the tunnels easily.

"All clear," she reported a few seconds later, and the other three hurried to join her. Oddly, the door seemed to have led straight to a narrow alley squished between two large buildings.

"They renovated this area a lot," Chroma commented, and Yellow's mind flicked back to some of the reports she'd filed about that in her time with Yellow Diamond. "The exits have a tendency to be in places that _used_ to be easily accessible and aren't anymore."

"Makes sense." Blue fussed with her shortened hair a bit, checked her leotard, and then peeked out to where they could hear the chatter of passing gems. "Okay," she said, retreating back to where the others are. "Let's go in pairs, I guess?"

"Okay." Yellow went with Azalea, leaving Chroma and Blue to follow after a slight delay. Two Pearls together wouldn't raise any suspicions, but four might draw more attention than they wanted.

"Right up here," Yellow said under her breath, and Azalea turned neatly as requested without any hesitation. "Second building."

The place in question was nondescript on the outside but sleek and freshly remodeled within, filled with the most streamlined technology. It was largely automatic, monitoring warp signals all over the planet and to every colony planet. If a problem was detected in one of them, then a Peridot would be sent over to deal with it, but otherwise they shouldn't have to worry about company.

Thank _stars_ Homeworld wasn't as attached to the ideas of windows as humans were, or it would have made things more difficult. Yellow hurried to the largest screen that stretched over the far wall and got a head start on disabling alarms, in case they were unlucky enough to have chosen one of those times when a warp pad was going to malfunction.

She had just finished doing that when Chroma joined her, and she spared her a quick nod.

Chroma returned it, speaking briefly to Cyan through her communicator. "We've just arrived, no problems. Get back to you soon."

Yellow glanced back to see that Blue and Azalea were quietly stationed on either side of the door, which they'd set to stay only the tiniest sliver open to allow them a view of the street outside.

 _Alright, time to get to work._

The first step was to find a warp pad that they could trick the system into _thinking_ they were using when their own warp pad activated. She entered into the map view and zoomed in on Facet Eleven, looking at the usage numbers on every warp pad relatively near the base. They were all low, considering that the place was getting more and more deserted, but there were two along the inner edges that might do nicely.

"What do you think?" Yellow asked Chroma.

"Hmm…" She thought for a moment, then pointed. "This one? I think they'd both work, but for long-term use it's probably better to go with the one closer to Blue Diamond's sector. That's more likely to see regular activity."

"That's what I was thinking too." Yellow selected it, then accessed the details of that warp.

A few more careful minutes got her to what she needed, and she tapped in a line of code, double-checked it, and then continued a bit further.

"How's it going?" Blue asked, careful not to raise her voice despite the distance between them.

"Good so far. It's more about if it'll accept—" Yellow groaned as she inserted the new data and immediately got an error message. "It won't. Hold on. Let me try a different way."

"No one's coming?" Chroma checked.

"No one," Blue confirmed, Azalea nodding in agreement.

"Okay."

The second way took longer and was circuitous enough that Yellow had to redo a few things along the way, but she felt pretty confident that this would work.

"Alright, can you check this?" Yellow asked Chroma.

"It's not exactly my area of—"

"I know, but it still helps."

"Okay." Chroma's eyes flitted back and forth across the screen, then pointed. "Is this bit…?"

"Got it." Yellow would have felt embarrassed about the mistake but they were on a time crunch—every second they stayed was another that someone might come by and find them. She fixed the error and waited for Chroma to finish reading the rest.

"I think you're good," Chroma said.

"Alright. Let me just—"

"Excuse me," Azalea interrupted nervously. "Um, that screen over there just lit up."

Chroma and Yellow turned simultaneously to look.

"It's asking for gem identification," Yellow said immediately. "Someone's coming."

"It wants ID for what we did? Or—"

"No, it can't be, I haven't finished. It's something else, maybe a system update, I don't know. We'd better hope it's something routine." Yellow hurriedly looked over the code one last time before sending it off to slip inside the program neatly out of sight. "Alright, done, we're good. Let's hide."

"Hide?" Chroma turned towards the door. "But—"

"We don't know how long it'll take them to get here, and we don't want anyone to notice us leaving."

"Yeah, we'll have to wait them out," Blue said, gently ushering her towards the maintenance tunnel. She shapeshifted quickly into a smaller form, turning into a cat like Amethyst did sometimes. "It's okay, we'll be fine as long as we stay quiet. Can you let Cyan know?"

She nodded, hand trembling slightly as she touched the communicator. "Cyan, someone's coming, we won't be able to respond for a while. I'm handing you off to Yellow."

"Wait, what? Chroma—" Cyan's voice was audible as Chroma yanked the communicator off.

"What are you doing?" Yellow demanded, not taking it.

"Chroma, what's going on?" Cyan asked anxiously. "Talk to me, please."

"Yellow, _take it_ ," Chroma insisted. "I'm sorry, we have to split up."

"What are you talking about? You just have to get in the—"

"I can't shapeshift, okay? Take it!"

"Chroma, what are you—" Chroma pressed her thumb hard to the device, cutting off Cyan's voice.

"I can't," she repeated, pressing it into Yellow's hand hurriedly. "Stay down there," she insisted when Blue and Azalea started to come back up from the hiding place.

"What do you mean you can't?" Yellow asked.

"I mean I can't," Chroma said, voice quick but shaky. "Or I can, sort of, but I'm not good at it—"

"What does it matter if you're good at it?" Yellow hissed. "Nobody cares what you look like, just get in there!"

"I _can't._ I can't change sizes and stuff. Go without me, I'll find somewhere to hide."

"That's ridiculous!"

"I'll meet up with you later."

"Like hell you will," Yellow snapped, grabbing the communicator from Chroma's hand and tossing it down to Blue. "You two stay quiet unless things get bad. Chroma, you can at least shapeshift clothes, right?"

"Y-Yeah, usually, but—"

"Good. Make it something plain like you said you wore before." She shapeshifted herself as she spoke, bringing back her old uniform. " _Now_ , Chroma!"

She flinched, closing her eyes to try and concentrate. It was always harder to do when she was stressed, but there wasn't a choice. She rapidly worked through getting rid of the silver and gold accents on her dress one at a time, knowing she'd do better that way. Soon she was left in just black, and Yellow wasted no time in grabbing her arm and hauling her forward to the door. A glance out showed her someone was already approaching.

"How does Cadmium act when she's on duty?" she whispered urgently.

"I don't know, I only see her on base. Just—Just normal Pearl behavior, I figured. She can be serious when she needs to be."

"Fine. Don't say a word." Yellow straightened her shoulders and drew in a deep breath, settling a hand on Chroma's arm just as the doors opened to reveal a Peridot.

"Oh! What are you doing here?" The gem seemed more surprised than accusatory, which Yellow was grateful for. It was already kind of unnerving not to be looking down like she'd gotten used to with Peridot, the Crystal Gem.

"My Diamond ordered me to escort this Pearl to harvesting."

"Well, yes, I suppose I can see why," she said, giving Chroma a careless once-over. "But what are you doing _here?_ Did she try to run?"

"Precisely," Yellow agreed, quickly accepting the offered explanation—which she'd been going to use anyway. She could feel Chroma trembling minutely as she tightened her grip on her arm. "My Diamond hoped to make use of her despite her flaws but she's proven too troublesome, as you can see. I apologize for the inconvenience, we won't delay you any longer."

"Yes, alright."

Yellow almost couldn't believe it had been that easy as she tugged Chroma out the door. Gems rarely questioned Diamonds' Pearls, but still…

She kept pulling Chroma along until they were a fair distance away, then ducked into the narrow space that held the tunnel entrance. "Okay, let's wait here," she said under her breath as she opened it up.

Chroma nodded, following her in. Once they were safely inside, she slumped against the tunnel wall and slid down, her long hair bunching up behind her until she reached the bottom and let her head fall forward to rest on her knees.

Yellow didn't know what she was supposed to say, if anything. "I didn't have much time to think up an excuse, so I went with the obvious choice," she offered quietly after a few minutes of silence.

"What?" Chroma lifted her head to look at Yellow, her dark eyes surprisingly dry despite the emotion in them. "No, it's fine," she said, waving away the unspoken apology. "I'm not going to complain about that when it's my own fault I…"

Yellow waited.

"Anyway," Chroma murmured, hugging her legs in closer to her chest, "you didn't have to do that. Thank you."

"Of course I had to do it," Yellow said brusquely. "But you're welcome."

She nodded, just as her form seemed to decide it had had enough and changed back to her usual outfit, silver and gold glittering softly as it reappeared. "I should have said something sooner. About the shapeshifting."

"Why didn't you?" she asked, then worried that the question might have come out too harsh.

Chroma just shrugged, not looking at her. "Just got embarrassed," she whispered. "Not used to being with all you fancy Pearls."

Yellow blinked. "You're _dating_ fancy Pearls, aren't you?"

"Huh?" She looked startled.

"Silver's fancy and Aura at least looks the part."

"They're different though."

"How?"

"I don't know, I guess because I know them better."

"Fair enough." Yellow watched her for a moment. "It's fine. Just be more careful."

"I will." She hesitated. "Thanks again."

She nodded stiffly, then knelt down beside her in an attempt to relax as well, if only just a little. "So why do you wear such a complicated outfit if you're bad at that kind of thing? It would take you a long time to reform, wouldn't it?"

"Oh…well, yeah, it did the first time anyway. Haven't had to do it again yet." Chroma pressed a hand to the belt-like design at her waist, smiling shakily. "I was going to do something simpler—with their colors, I mean. But I don't know, I guess I wanted to prove I could do more. It felt right."

Yellow nodded uncertainly.

"And it's a reminder that they've always encouraged me to…to accept myself. Which I guess I didn't do so great at today, but—"

"No, that makes sense." She touched her hair, where she usually wore the hair clips Steven had given her. Those were, in a way, a reminder of her freedom, right? The first thing she'd owned.

"Thanks." Chroma bit her lip, eyes drifting downward as the two of them lapsed into silence.

"We should give it a while longer," Yellow said, gesturing above them.

"Yeah, that's probably safest."

They spent the next ten minutes in relative quiet, Chroma's fingers playing with the hem of her skirt while Yellow sat perfectly still.

"You know," Chroma said after a while, a hint of a smirk appearing on her face, "I'd like to see you do a _real_ Caddy impression sometime."

Yellow clicked her tongue. "Not happening."

"Oh, come on, it'd be funny."

"It'd be terrible."

"Exactly."

Yellow couldn't help but laugh along with her.

"You think it's safe to go back now?" Chroma asked.

"Probably. You wait here, I'll go."

"Okay, be careful."

Yellow inclined her head slightly before standing and climbing back out.

It didn't take her long to return to the building they'd come from, and a quick check showed no activity inside so she hurried in and shut the door once more. "Let's go," she whispered, knocking lightly on the entrance to the other two Pearls' hiding spot.

"Oh, thank the stars," Blue breathed as she came out, not quite finished shapeshifting back into her disguised form as she latched onto Yellow in a brief hug. "I'm glad you're safe. And Chroma?"

"She's safe too, she's waiting in the tunnel."

Blue turned to help Azalea out, smiling reassuringly at the pink Pearl as she joined them. "Ready to go?"

"Mm-hm."

"Okay."

Chroma had stayed exactly where Yellow left her and looked relieved to see everyone, quickly standing so they could begin their journey back. "Sorry," she murmured to Blue and Azalea.

"It's okay," Azalea whispered back.

Blue nodded, sharing a brief smile with Chroma. "Yeah. We'll make sure to remember next time."

"But—"

"We shouldn't have assumed," she interrupted. "Even if you didn't say anything."

"No, that's not on you."

"Either way, it would have been better if one of us had asked directly," she said gently.

"…I guess."

"My gem's not exactly normal either," Blue added.

"It's not?"

She shook her head. "So I should have said something too."

"Yours didn't affect the mission."

"No, but it's not totally impossible that it could have."

"Why didn't you say?" Chroma asked hesitantly.

"I don't know." She shrugged. "Just one of those Pearl things that gets ingrained in you, I suppose. Wanting to live up to somebody's expectations."

"Yeah."

* * *

The four of them were met at the door by a surprisingly large group of gems—Crimson and Cyan nearest the door, and then the Crystal Gems and a few other Pearls scattered around to congratulate them.

Chroma's eyes flicked up only briefly, searching for the two familiar faces she wanted to see but not finding them. That was fine, she told herself, she hadn't _expected_ them to drop everything and wait for her, but…it would have been nice to see them.

"Good job," Crimson said, startling her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Chroma wasn't sure anything about her performance today merited a _good job_. "Thanks," she managed anyway, smiling at Crimson. Her throat was tight as she tried to avoid Cyan's eye.

"Welcome back," the gem in question said. "I'd like us all to go back to the strategy room together, if that's alright."

"Sure." Chroma hurried off in that direction, the other Pearls following close behind her.

She took the chair farthest from where Cyan usually sat, letting Blue, Yellow, and Azalea fill in the gaps. It was hard to focus on much of anything when Cyan started talking, so she kept her eyes glued to the table, waiting to hear her name.

She didn't.

Cyan just congratulated them on their success, asked them each to write a small summary of the mission for her to review, and dismissed them to go rest or do whatever else they wanted to do.

Chroma rose belatedly to join them in leaving, her legs unsteady with nerves.

"Chroma," Cyan called, making her freeze in place. "A word, please?"

"…Sure." Her eyes darted to the door before she slowly moved back towards Cyan, standing next to a chair rather than sitting, not sure which was better.

Cyan waited for the rest of the Pearls to file out and then made a point of closing the door before sitting down again and turning to speak to Chroma. "We need to talk about what happened out there."

"I'm sorry I screwed up."

"No," Cyan said firmly, "I want to _talk_ , not have you apologize because I asked you to do something you're physically incapable of."

Chroma flinched, holding on tight to the back of the chair.

"Listen," she said more softly, "I respect you a great deal and I know you always give your best. But I need to know what your best _is_ , Chroma. If you don't tell me your limits, I can't protect you."

She nodded slowly, not looking at Cyan.

"I need you to tell me when you can't do things. It's important."

"Got it." She felt mortified. "Sorry."

"It's okay."

"My shapeshifting is awful," Chroma said quietly. "I can't store things in my gem. Can't really use it as a light either, but that's because of the color. I don't have quite as much raw strength as a standard Pearl, and my reflexes are decent but nothing spectacular. And I don't know if I'd ever be able to summon or not."

"Chroma—"

"That's all I can think of."

"Chroma, I wasn't asking you to tell me what you're bad at," Cyan said guiltily. "I mean, I was, but…" She took a deep breath. "Tell me your strengths now."

"What?"

"Your strengths. I have to know how I can best utilize them, right?"

"Oh. I'm…good at fixing things?"

"That's one."

Chroma bit her lip. "I think I'm best with ranged weapons, but I'm getting better at hand-to-hand too. And, um, Silver and I fight well together as a team."

Cyan nodded.

"I work hard. And if you give me time to practice something, then I usually perform really well."

"There we go," she said with a smile. "Perfect. Now if I could just get everyone to do that…"

"Everyone?"

"Yeah," Cyan answered with a shrug. "I always feel like I'm guessing. Nobody ever speaks up or asks me to change anything."

"You…weren't just calling me out then?"

"Oh! No, of course not. I mean, yes, for everything that happened today, but not—I'm sorry. I went about this all wrong, didn't I?" She dropped her head to the table. "I wasn't picking on you because of your gem, I swear. I'm just so _tired_ of nobody questioning me. I feel like someone's going to get seriously hurt and it all could be avoided if they'd just say 'hey, I don't really feel confident about doing that' or 'can you go over that again' or 'maybe we could try this instead.' Especially now I'm starting to plan more dangerous stuff like this."

Chroma nodded, eyes softening sympathetically. "It's okay. And I don't think it's your fault that they don't. We're just not used to saying no. Or…having any say in what we're told to do." She hesitated. "Silver and Crimson and I, we've had time to get used to some of that, so—so if we're not saying anything, it's usually because we agree. Or in my case, I just get too self-conscious to say anything. The others haven't had the same amount of adjustment period though."

"I know." Cyan turned her head to look up at her. "And I know we can't rush that, but I need to do something about it before—well, before today happens again, but worse."

"Would you like me to help?" Chroma offered. "I can talk to some of them one on one and see how it goes. Maybe it'd work better coming from someone who's not giving the 'orders'?"

"That would be great," she replied. "Thank you."

"No problem." She smiled warmly, placing her hand briefly over the other Pearl's. "You're doing a good job, Cyan."

"Thanks."

* * *

To Chroma's surprise, she found Silver and Aura waiting just outside the door, not giving her any time to begin ruminating on the day's events.

"Hi," Aura greeted her with a hug. "Cyan thought you might like us to be here when you finished."

 _Oh_ , Chroma thought, leaning briefly into Aura's warm touch. _Thanks, Cyan._

" _That okay?_ " Silver asked with a smile as Chroma and Aura parted.

"Of course it is. Thank you." Chroma reached for her next but was instead scooped up smoothly off her feet and into Silver's arms.

" _You're welcome. Whose room would you like to go to?_ "

Chroma smiled a little. It wasn't as if it really mattered—in actuality, all three were shared and they ought to find a more space-efficient arrangement—but she appreciated having the choice. "Yours?"

" _Mine it is._ " Silver started down the hall, Aura keeping pace easily alongside her and letting her hand rest lightly atop Chroma's head. When they reached the door of Silver's room, the golden Pearl entered the passcode effortlessly and hurried in ahead of them to gather the scattered pillows together at the head of the bed.

Chroma found herself gently set down against them, and Aura and Silver were beside her only seconds later. Aura traced the gold and silver at her neck, then settled her hand gently in the center of her chest while Silver placed little kisses in a row alongside Chroma's gem.

" _You doing okay?_ "

She nodded automatically, then made herself stop. But…on second thought, she _was_ doing okay. It certainly hadn't been a good day, but she'd gotten through it. Yellow had helped her, even tried to comfort her in her own way. Blue and Azalea too. And her conversation with Cyan hadn't been anywhere near as terrible as she'd expected it to be. "I think so," she answered slowly. "Not great, but okay. I'm sorry I…"

"We know," Aura said softly. "Just please don't—don't hide things like that when it's important. I know it's hard to share it with gems you don't know very well yet, but…"

" _But we need you to be safe_ ," Silver finished, stroking through her hair. " _That's the most important thing. Okay?_ "

"Yeah." Her throat felt tight. "I'm sorry I made you worry."

" _It's alright._ "

"It was a stupid mistake."

" _You're allowed a few of those_ ," Silver said, bumping shoulders with her gently. " _It's not like the two of us are perfect either._ "

"Exactly." Aura smiled, leaning in a little. "My mistakes are just confined to the communications room, so it's less noticeable."

Chroma laughed, gem beginning to feel lighter. "I think that's a different kind of mistake."

"Well, maybe, but it still counts." Aura kissed her on the cheek. "It's okay to make them every now and then."

"Thanks." She looked between the other two Pearls. "I won't make the same one twice, I promise."

" _We know._ " Silver wrapped an arm around her firmly. " _We trust you. We just figured we should talk about it anyway._ "

Chroma nodded, touched by the words.

" _It isn't too much after already talking to Cyan, is it?_ "

"No," she said quickly. "No, Cyan was—she was understanding about it. Kind of said the same thing you did, just with less cuddles."

" _Which we are more than happy to provide._ " Silver smiled. " _And Cyan seems pretty cool. We should try and get to know her a little better; I feel like we've barely met._ "

"Well, she has been spending all her free time in the infirmary," Aura said, "but I think Tangy will be out soon, she seems all healed up now. I was thinking of maybe having a small sort of celebration when she leaves actually…"

"That sounds like a great idea," Chroma said. "What kind of celebration though?"

"Oh, well, you know the tea that I've been trying with Steven and Amethyst?"

" _You mean the stuff you make every time you have a few minutes to spare?_ " Silver teased.

Aura blushed. "Yes, that stuff. There's something called a 'tea party' that's just about sitting down with friends and drinking it and talking and…well, it seems nice and calm?"

" _Yeah, it sounds like a good idea_ ," Silver reassured her, reaching across Chroma to pull her in for a kiss. " _That way it's not too overwhelming._ "

"Sounds good to me too," Chroma agreed. "And, um, I am trying to work on the…the internal shapeshifting so I can try some with you."

"Oh!" Aura said, surprised. "There's no rush! You don't have to drink tea to be there, so please don't stress about it."

"Okay," she said gratefully. "I want to try it eventually though, since you like it so much."

Aura beamed and hugged her tight. "I'll make you all the best teas when you're ready then!"

" _You two are unfairly adorable_ ," Silver projected, hand resting on Chroma's knee. " _Come here._ "

Chroma smiled as she let herself be bundled into a snug embrace between the two of them, tucking her head against Silver's chest. "Thank you."

" _You're always welcome. Going to be okay? You need anything?_ "

"I'll be okay." She let herself be held, just existing peacefully between Aura's tenderness and Silver's steadiness. "I will."


	36. Chapter 36

It seemed to be early for Steven when Aura went to knock on his door, but his tired eyes perked up as soon as he saw her. "Tea party day?"

"Yes! I'm sorry, I hope I didn't wake you."

"Nah, it's okay, I was just having a lazy morning."

"Okay." Aura brightened. "I'm about to go get Tangy and Cyan, if you want to come with. Or if you want to go straight to the common room, Silver and Chroma are there."

"I'll come with you!" he volunteered. "Can you give me a minute to change?"

"Oh, sure." Aura sat down gracefully at the unused desk in one corner.

"Um…I meant can you wait outside?" Steven asked awkwardly.

"Oh, right, right!" She jumped up. "Sorry, I forgot."

Steven waved away her apology easily and waited for her to leave.

Aura leaned thoughtfully against the wall outside as the door closed again. Material clothes still seemed such a strange concept, even just the idea of being able to change them whenever you pleased, no energy wasted, no time put into thinking about what you wanted to reform in. She wondered if Chroma might like that, though she was proud of her partner for designing and wearing the outfit she had now. Aura thought it suited her and had no desire to obscure it, but maybe it would be nice to add something extra for special occasions. The material clothes weren't so unlike some of the broken jewelry pieces Aura had in her collection of stolen trinkets, and she'd been dying to see Chroma in some of those.

"All set!" Steven announced as he came out to join her. He was wearing the same thing he'd worn every other day prior, but Aura thought it was cute. Alien as he was, his half-gem side showed.

The two of them set off for the infirmary on the other side of the building, Aura's light, airy steps matching well with Steven's smaller strides despite their differences. He smiled up at her as they left the living quarters.

"So what kind of tea is your favorite so far?"

"Hmm…" Aura pressed a hand to the gem on her stomach thoughtfully. "I don't know. They've all been lovely. The white, maybe? It's subtler, but it's nice…"

"I'll make sure and get you some more when we have the warp pad working then," Steven said earnestly. "Oh, and you could come to the store with me and pick out some more flavors to try too! It'd be really fun!"

"Okay," she agreed, not fully understanding. "What's the store?"

"It's where you buy things." Steven frowned, thinking. "You exchange what you've earned to get something you want. Does that make sense? Do gems do that here? I guess not, since Blue and Yellow didn't know either."

Aura shook her head. "The Diamonds sometimes give other gems gifts if they do a good job at something, but I don't think anyone would dare give those away…" Not to mention Pearls were frequently some of those "gifts."

"It's not giving it away, it's like trading. Like if I had something you wanted and you had something I wanted, then we could swap."

"We could?"

"Yep. I can ask Pearl to explain it later, she'd probably do a better job!"

"No, you did a good job too," Aura said quickly, not wanting him to feel bad.

"Thanks," he laughed. "But seriously, Pearl can tell you more. She doesn't really get humans themselves, but she understands how some human things work really well."

Aura nodded.

"Oh, it's this door, right?" Steven asked, running ahead a little.

"That's right!" she said happily. She knocked at the door. "Good morning! It's Aura and Steven, may we come in?"

"Yeah, feel free!" Cyan called, and Aura opened the door to find her and Tangerine straightening the sheets on the bed, putting everything back the way it had been before their arrival. "Morning, Aura."

"Morning!" she repeated. "Oh, you don't need to worry about tidying up, I'll take care of it later," she added, gently shooing Tangerine's hands away from the bed. "Right now we're celebrating."

"Okay," she agreed, smiling shyly. "Thank you for putting together this, um, tea party?"

Aura nodded.

"Tea party. Yeah, thank you." Tangerine's gaze moved to Steven. "And thanks for coming," she added. "I didn't expect all this."

"Well, you have to celebrate getting better, right?" He grinned up at her. "Plus you haven't gotten a chance to just hang out with everybody yet."

"Everybody?"

Aura could hear the nervousness in Tangerine's question, and she was quick to reassure her. "Just me and Silver and Chroma and Viri and Azalea, like we talked about. And Steven, of course!" The latter had been a late addition, as he'd heard about the tea party and asked if he could join in. Aura had quickly gone to check with the two Pearls in the infirmary to see if she could invite him and they soon ended up with a total of eight guests. "Is that still okay?" she checked. "I asked the others to give us some space since you're getting adjusted."

"Yeah, that's okay," she said quietly. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Aura gestured fluidly to the door. "After you, whenever you're ready!"

Cyan touched Tangerine's hand lightly, smiling, just as Steven offered up one of his as well. Tangerine blushed, accepting Cyan's first and then extending her fingers for Steven to take.

Steven didn't hesitate to do so, then reached out for Aura on his other side, and the four of them shuffled through the doorway in a line.

Aura politely offered her hand to Cyan once they were in the hall but was refused with an amused "I don't think we'll get anywhere if we're all in a circle." It was a fair point, and Aura instead took the lead of the line as they made the short walk to the common room.

"It's nice, being able to stretch my legs again after so long," Tangerine commented quietly as they walked.

"Yeah, I bet, after being cooped up in the infirmary!" Steven said, squeezing her hand. "My friend Connie always says staying in bed when you're sick is no fun. Or it's fun for like a day and then even secret Under the Knife marathons start to lose their appeal. It's _terrible._ "

"Oh, ah, yes," she said nervously. "The bed was a nice change though."

"Oh yeah, I guess you guys don't usually get those," he said, sobering. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Tangerine replied. "I'm, um, appreciating it more this way."

Aura led the way into the common room, waving to Chroma, Silver, and Viri with her free hand. "We're here!"

"Hello!" Viri greeted them happily. She got up from her place on the floor beside the short, round table and made a beeline straight for Tangerine. "Tangy, it's so great to see you! How are you feeling?"

"Better," she answered with a smile.

"Can I give you a hug?"

"A hug?" Tangerine seemed startled by the request.

"Viri's the unofficial welcoming committee," Chroma explained with a smile. "Complimentary hugs included."

"Yep! I've been waiting to ask _forever._ I usually give gems their welcome hugs right away. If they like hugs. Would you like one?"

"I…" She hesitated.

"No is okay too," Viri said quickly. "I can give you an air hug."

"A what?"

"Like this." She spread her arms and mimed hugging enthusiastically.

"Um…" Tangerine couldn't help but smile at her sincerity. "Actually, a normal hug would be okay."

"Oh, awesome!" Viri stopped waving her arms and held them still, outstretched in silent invitation.

The other Pearl slowly extracted her hands from Cyan and Steven's, then took a couple small steps forward. Before she got within reach, she drew her arms up to her chest to cover her gem anxiously, and for a moment Aura thought she'd changed her mind. But Tangerine continued forward carefully until she was right in front of Viri, who closed her arms around her with care, hardly squeezing at all.

"Welcome home," she said softly. "I hope you like it here."

"I-I'm sure I will, thanks…"

Viri only held her for a few seconds, arms slipping back to her sides as Tangerine looked up to see her brilliant smile. "Now it's Cyan's turn," she said with a wink.

"You already gave me one!" Cyan protested, backing away.

"But you should have another one, to celebrate!"

"No thank you!"

" _Viri, what did you do to the poor Pearl?_ " Silver asked with a grin.

"She doesn't like heights," Tangerine volunteered quietly, before quickly looking away when she made eye contact with Silver.

"I didn't know that when I picked her up," Viri said. "Anyway, I was just teasing, I'll give you a regular, totally on the ground hug. Promise."

"…Fine." Cyan smiled begrudgingly as she came over to accept the hug.

"Yay! Welcome home again."

"Thanks."

"Here, take a seat," Chroma urged them as Viri let Cyan go. "Anywhere you like," she added when Tangerine looked around the table uncertainly.

"Thanks." She tentatively sat down opposite Chroma, smiling when they made eye contact.

Cyan took the space to Tangerine's left, nodding gratefully to Chroma. "Good to see you."

"Yeah, you too. Um, I wanted to thank you again for yesterday. Especially for having Aura and Silver be there when we were finished."

"It's alright, you don't need to thank me."

Settling in next to Chroma, Viri gave her a sideways hug. "It's great to see my favorite gem," she said cheerfully.

"Better not let Azalea hear you say that," Chroma joked, returning the hug. "Where is she, by the way? I thought you were going to invite her."

"Ah, she's working." Viri's smile faltered. "I think she just needed some time to herself after all the excitement yesterday."

"That's alright, we understand," Aura said, sitting down in the gap between Tangerine and Silver. "We'll give you some treats to take over to her afterwards."

"That would be great!" Viri said, perking up again.

"I can go find her a few extra things from the food supplies," Steven volunteered. "I don't think she's gotten to try much yet."

"Thanks!"

"Don't tell Pearl though, she keeps worrying even though we brought enough food to last me, like, five years." He laughed nervously. "Though I'm hoping it won't _actually_ take that long to get back home…"

"I'm sure Chroma and everybody will have the warp pad up in no time," Viri said reassuringly, giving him a careful pat on the head. "But you should save the food if you're worried about it."

"No, no, I believe you."

" _Yeah, no need to worry. Why don't you help Tangy pick some tea?_ " Silver suggested with an encouraging smile.

Steven looked at her projection uncertainly, then smiled when Silver gestured to the little collection of teas Aura had pulled from her gem only moments earlier. "Oh, you want me to make it?"

She shook her head, then pointed to him and Aura and then Tangerine. " _You and Aura should make recommendations, since you know the most about it._ "

"Um…"

"Is it alright if I translate for you?" Chroma asked Silver.

" _Sure, thanks._ " She moved her gem hand so it would be closer to Chroma.

"Okay, I'll repeat it word for word."

Silver smiled gratefully. " _Steven, you and Aura should make some recommendations for Tangy, since you two know the most about it._ "

Steven waited patiently for Chroma to read Silver's words and then nodded. "Okay! I don't drink a whole bunch of tea at home, but I'll do my best. Plus Aura's already an expert!"

"Oh, I don't know about that," Aura laughed.

" _If you're not now, you will be soon._ "

She blushed prettily, cupping one of the mugs she'd borrowed from Steven between her palms. "Thanks. So, um, you haven't tried any food yet, right, Tangy?"

Tangerine shook her head.

"Hmm…" Aura picked through the little box, carefully picking out a few options and setting them on the table. "Here are some of the different floral teas. Oh, and fruit teas, you might enjoy those."

"The flowers are the best," Viri said. "They're so cute on the packaging."

"They're pretty stunning in person too," Tangerine said softly.

"Oh, have you seen them? You're so lucky! Can you tell me about them sometime?"

"Sure."

"Maybe you'd like to pick out one you've seen in person then?" Aura offered, taking out a few more florals to show her. "I don't know all the names yet, but…this one's chamomile, like Millie. And lavender over here. And this one is rose, right?" She held one up for Steven to read.

"Yep! Want me to tell you the names of the others?"

"That'd be great." Aura gently passed over the box of teas, a mixed selection pulled from the assortment of teas the Crystal Gems had brought with them.

"Okay," Steven said, pointing to the ones on the table first. "That one's jasmine, and that one's chrysanthemum. Aaaand…" He rifled through the box. "That might be it, actually. Oh, here's a mint one, if that counts. Yep, that's the last one. We didn't bring—oh!" His face lit up as he found another tea bag. "Look, there's tangerine!"

"There is?" Aura, Tangerine, and Cyan asked simultaneously.

"Yeah, right here." He slid it in Tangerine's direction.

"It is," she mused, touching the little packet with one finger, eyes wide. She picked it up carefully, bringing it closer to her to be able to smell it. "It's just like I remember…"

"You should have it then," Steven said warmly. "It's perfect."

Tangerine nodded slowly. "I-I'd like that."

"Tangerine for Tangerine it is then," Aura said happily, beginning to prepare it for her immediately.

"I hope you taste good," Cyan commented lightly.

Aura was very, very grateful she wasn't drinking tea yet, or she might have choked on it. As it was, she just tried to look busy and _not_ like she was going to burst out laughing. She cleared her throat. "Anyway, what about you, Cyan? What would you like?"

"Oh, me?" She thought for a moment. "I guess I'll try a fruit one too then."

"Okay," Steven agreed. "Let's see, we've got apple, spiced plum, blueberry—" He cut himself off, holding up the tea bag triumphantly. "Blueberry! It'll match!"

"Definitely that one," Cyan decided immediately. "Please."

"Not everything has to match, you know," Tangerine giggled, patting her hand lightly.

"It's nice if it does though," she replied, blush creeping up on her cheeks.

"It is, it is." Tangerine exchanged an amused look with Aura as Steven handed over the tea bag to be prepared.

"Okay, Viri next?" Aura asked. "Or did you already choose the one you're holding?"

"Chrysanthemum." She nodded, having already picked out her tea of choice to admire the flower on the label.

"That was easy," she laughed. "Okay, Steven?"

"I'm going to try apple!"

"Alright, just you left, Silver." Aura smiled at the gem beside her. "What would you like?"

" _I'll take whatever you're having._ "

"Are you sure?"

" _Well, you have pretty good taste, after all._ "

Aura giggled. "Okay then."

She set about preparing everyone's tea in their separate mugs, passing them out one by one and reminding them to let it steep for a little while before trying to drink it, just as she'd learned from the instructions Pearl had given her.

"So what are you looking forward to the most, Tangy?" Viri asked excitedly, leaning forward a little. "Training? Getting your own room? _Sharing_ a room?"

"Viri's super jealous of that last one," Chroma laughed.

"Roommates are great," she sighed.

" _Viri, please tell me you of all Pearls know they aren't just room—_ "

"I-I know that! I just meant in general!" Viri stuck out her tongue at Silver, while Cyan and Tangerine shared a quick smile.

"I'm looking forward to that especially," Tangerine offered.

"Me too," Cyan agreed.

" _And here I thought you were looking forward to training_ ," Silver teased, " _after all that enthusiasm when you stopped by to watch the other day. Your eye was all lit up. Figuratively, I mean._ "

"I know, I'm looking forward to that too," she said, embarrassed. "All of the above, really. But I want us to get settled in our room first."

Tangerine nodded happily.

"I'm sure you'll love it," Aura said. "And I'd be happy to help you find ways to decorate sometime too."

"That'd be great," Cyan said. "We hadn't even considered decorations, we're just happy to have any room at all."

"That's how I was too," Aura laughed. "I think all of us were. By the way, there's still an open room too in case you need it."

"I thought you guys—I mean, I thought we were running out of space as it is."

"We are, but not just yet. And Crimson says it's important you have the option, you know?"

"Yeah, okay. Thanks."

"Is there anything else you need?" Chroma asked.

"Oh, not that I can think of, but thank you. Although…" She hesitated. "Tangerine wasn't able to take the tour with me. I'd be happy to show her around myself, but—"

"We'd love to take you around," she agreed immediately. "We could even do it right after tea if you want to."

"That'd be nice," Tangerine murmured. "Thank you."

After a few more minutes, the seven of them were happily drinking their teas—or in Chroma's case, holding a mug of hot water to warm her hands on.

"You know what we should do?" Steven said after a moment, once he'd opened up all the snack foods he'd brought along for everyone to try.

"What?"

"A toast!"

"Oh," Aura said, startled. "I know that's supposed to go with tea, but I haven't tried making it yet. I didn't realize I was supposed to—"

"Oh, no, no, not that kind of toast," he said quickly, before she could worry too much. "A toast like…like we all clink glasses and drink to whoever or whatever we're celebrating!"

" _So we…hit things together to celebrate Tangy?_ " Silver asked, confused.

"Pretty much?"

" _Works for me!_ "

"Gently!" Steven said quickly when Silver grabbed for her mug rather enthusiastically. "More like a teeny tap for you guys since you're strong."

Silver didn't look at all disheartened, especially not with the compliment attached. She raised her mug up carefully and waited for Steven to show them how to do it.

Soon, all seven of them had raised their glasses to the center of the table, Steven leaning in farther than the rest to reach, and clinked their mugs together gingerly. An unsynchronized chorus of "Cheers" was shared, and then they all relaxed, settling into conversation again.

"So, what do you like to work on in training, beyond the basics?" Cyan asked Silver.

" _Sorry to disappoint, but it's_ mostly _basics. At least right now._ "

"Oh, yes, of course. I just meant in the future…?"

" _Well, there's loads of stuff I want to try. Especially since we've got the Crystal Gems here, you know? I'd love to start up a summoning practice of some sort, if they're willing to help out._ "

"I'm sure they would!" Steven said quickly. "I mean, uh, they might make things pretty confusing, but they'll definitely try and help. Speaking from experience."

" _Awesome! Who should we ask? Pearl?_ "

"Is it gem type specific?" Cyan asked curiously. "I mean, would all Pearls be able to summon using the same methods or…?"

Steven shrugged. "I don't know, maybe? But you guys are all really different, so it'd be kind of weird if you summoned exactly the same."

 _We're all really different._ It was a sentiment familiar to Aura, one she appreciated when she watched all the Pearls around her, but it was even nicer to hear it said aloud.

" _Hmm, it'd be really interesting to test it out. Maybe have groups that rotate between instructors until they find the method that suits them?_ "

"That could work," Cyan agreed excitedly.

" _Cool. I'll talk to them about how best to do it later, since I'm not going to be able to help teach at first._ "

"I'm a little surprised you haven't summoned already, with how much regular practice you've been doing."

" _Oh, no, I don't think that's got very much to do with it. Besides, Crimson and Chroma have been training just as much as me over the past few years._ "

"Doesn't change the fact that you're definitely going to be the first to summon out of the three of us," Chroma laughed.

" _Hey, be a little more competitive!_ "

"You and Crimson have that side of things covered. I'm too busy keeping this place together to be competitive," she returned good-naturedly.

" _And you do a great job of it._ "

Chroma beamed, nearly forgetting to translate the sentence.

Silver grinned back, then seemed to get distracted by Tangerine, who was looking intently at Silver's currently unlit gem with squinted eyes and a small frown. " _Hey, you okay?_ "

Tangerine jumped when Chroma repeated the question, presumably before she was able to read it herself. "Oh! Yes, I'm fine, sorry."

" _Do you need me to make it bigger? You've been squinting a bunch._ "

She let out a breath of self-conscious laughter. "No, no, I'm okay, really."

" _I don't mind. I don't want it to be hard for you to read._ "

"It's not," she said hastily. "I mean, I can see it, sorry. It's just…"

Silver waited patiently for her to continue.

"I'm a little rusty," Tangerine said softly. "Cyan's been trying to help me catch up with the changes, but I'm not quite accustomed to Era 2 writing yet."

Silver nodded, but it was Steven who spoke first.

"That's okay! I barely know any at all." He leaned forward excitedly. "All I know how to do is write some names like Blue and Yellow showed me. I've been trying to memorize all the letters—symbols?—but it's pretty different, so I'd love to have somebody who I could study with. Anyway, I brought some cute stationary with me to practice on, and fancy gel pens, and you could pick out some to use too. It'd be really fun!"

Tangerine gave him a kind smile. "That sounds nice."

Aura was fairly certain Tangerine was just as confused about that suggestion as she was, though it didn't show.

Steven's face lit up. "Great!"

" _In the meantime_ ," Silver chimed in, " _I'll slow down a little for you. Keep the words up longer._ "

"Oh, you don't have to—"

" _Yes, I do_ ," she replied, smiling and leaving the simple phrase up for far more time than was necessary to prove her point. " _You can consider it a favor to me if it makes you feel better. Much as I love Chroma, I'd rather use my own voice._ "

Tangerine nodded slowly.

" _Okay?_ "

"Okay," she said, a little bit more confidently. "Thank you."

It did make Silver happier, knowing that Tangerine and Steven were both making an effort to learn. Aura knew that it was important to her, being able to speak for herself after centuries of having no semblance of voice at all, and she was glad everyone was being so accommodating for her.

She smiled as she watched them drink their tea, and a part of her wished they could sit there all day, learning about each other.

* * *

The common room wasn't terribly busy, but there were a few Pearls that came in and out. After a while, Aura noticed one particular gem who had entered, taking up an unobtrusive spot against the wall.

"Hi, Violet!" she called, waving. "Did you just get back?"

Violet looked up from the small item she'd been cleaning. "Yeah."

"Do you want to come join us for tea?"

"Um, sure, if that's okay," she replied, brightening at the invitation.

"Is one more gem okay, Tangy?"

Tangerine nodded, automatically moving to make space for another person to join them.

"Thanks. Violet, here, you can sit next to me. Can everybody squish in a little more?"

Aura began to move the opposite direction from Tangerine, widening the space for Violet. Across the table, Steven happily accepted an offer to sit on Viri's lap, giving Cyan and Tangerine more space to move over too. Chroma and Silver happily scooted closer to Viri and to each other, and Aura joined them, her shoulder pressed warm to Silver's.

Violet, who'd just walked over, suddenly looked a little intimidated by the large, nearly-half-the-table space that had been left for her. She sat down all the same, cheeks flushed as she clutched a small drawstring bag to her chest. "Um, hi."

Aura couldn't help but smile when she looked at the odd setup and quickly scooted in again so Violet wasn't quite as far away.

Tangerine soon followed her lead, murmuring a "Hello" to their new guest.

"Hi," Violet squeaked out. "Um, I don't think we've met?"

Tangerine shook her head.

"My name's Violet."

"Tangerine."

"Tangy just got out of the infirmary, that's why we're celebrating," Aura explained.

Violet nodded, whispering a small "Congratulations."

"Thanks."

"And Violet here is the best scavenger on base," Chroma added, smiling gently when said Pearl dropped her head down to partially obscure her face in the bandana tied around her neck. "She finds me some really useful bits and pieces."

"I'll have some more for you later actually," Violet mumbled. "Found some of those…" She held up her fingers to demonstrate the size of something. "The ones you wanted last time."

"Fuses?" Chroma suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds right."

"That's fantastic, thank you!"

"What else did you find?" Steven asked curiously.

"Um…"

"I'd like to see too," Aura said encouragingly. She moved to pull the tea-making items out of the way so Violet would have more table space to lay out her finds. "Please?"

"They're not cleaned up yet."

"That's okay."

Violet chanced a look at Tangerine to make sure she was okay with it too, receiving an inquisitive smile.

She quickly but carefully spread her finds out across the table before her. There wasn't anything particularly big, but a nice selection of smaller items that ranged from scraps of technology to old pieces of jewelry, all coated with dust and dirt. Violet fidgeted a bit as she watched the others lean in to look at everything.

"Ah, there's so many nice things!" Aura was quick to reach for a few of the fancier scraps, rubbing a careful thumb over them to get rid of a little dirt. "Did you go somewhere new?"

Violet nodded, pleased. "Went a little farther north."

" _No trouble, I hope?_ " Silver asked.

"No, nothing."

" _That's good. If you ever want someone to watch your back on your solo runs, let me know, okay?_ "

"Thanks." Violet inclined her head slightly.

"Oh, but before we do this," Aura said suddenly, wiping her hands daintily on a napkin, "I should ask if you want tea."

"Um, sure, thanks." She made a vague effort to clean her own hands on her shorts, then gave up.

"What kind would you like? There are lots of flavors."

"Whatever you think is best."

"Hmm…" Aura flicked through the box and pulled out a purple packet. "Well, we have a bit of a color theme going, so how about Spiced Plum?"

"Okay."

"It might not actually be purple," Cyan warned her. "Mine was meant to be blue and it's just reddish."

Tangerine laughed, patting her hand sympathetically.

"I'm sorry," Aura said earnestly. "I'll let you know if I find a blue one."

"Thanks…"

Aura hid a small smile as she poured a cup for Violet and dropped the plum tea bag into it. "Here you go. You have to let it sit for a little while."

"Okay." Violet carefully set it to the side so she wouldn't accidentally bump into it as she rearranged her findings.

"I bet it's really fun going scavenging, huh?" Steven asked.

"Definitely!"

"Do you think I could come with you sometime? If it's somewhere deserted, it'll be safe, right?"

"It is safer," Chroma agreed. "But you should probably stay closer, where we know the patterns of the robonoids and such."

"Robonoids? Like the things Peridot had?"

"Oh. Uh, they're probably a different kind than you're thinking of. They're about this big," she said, holding up her arms to demonstrate, "and they scan for gems. And then attack. We try and avoid the areas that have them."

" _I still think we should try fighting them_ ," Silver projected.

Chroma repeated the sentence aloud, raising her eyebrows. "I think it'd be more of a race to shut them off than a real fight, Sil."

" _That works too. At least it gets some of them out of the way when we want to explore._ "

"Crimson said she smashed one once," Cyan volunteered.

" _We were there for that!_ "

"'Smashed' might be a bit misleading. She got lucky and knocked out one of its sensors, so it crashed into a rock and broke."

" _And then Chroma took out the parts she wanted and told Crimson and me we could smash the rest._ "

"I thought it might have a tracker in it, so it wasn't worth bringing home the whole thing."

" _I think we could totally do it again._ "

"What _for?_ "

"It could be good practice," Cyan said, making both Chroma and Silver turn to her in surprise. "It would be a good challenge for experienced fighters, I mean. Something with potential consequences, but controllable ones. If we make sure to have backup to take out any escaping drones, it would be safer."

" _That's perfect!_ " Silver exclaimed.

"It is," Chroma agreed. "I'm not sure about _right now_ , but…when everyone's able to protect themselves a little better."

"Oh, of course. I just thought it might be useful on multiple levels that way." She gestured to Violet. "It would be easier for you to locate more secure places to scavenge, and everyone could practice the skills they're learning too."

"That sounds good," Violet said shyly. "Both parts."

"Definitely," Viri agreed. "And then maybe me and Steven could tag along." She leaned down a little to whisper conspiratorially. "I have to stay in base 'cause everyone says I'm too noticeable too."

Steven nodded sympathetically.

"Can't you shape—" Cyan cut herself off, shooting an apologetic glance in Chroma's direction.

"You don't need to avoid talking about it in front of me," Chroma said with a faint smile.

"I can shapeshift," Viri volunteered, not allowing for any awkwardness to settle in. "I think."

" _Viri, you're drinking tea as we speak._ "

"Oh, yeah, the inside stuff seems to be fine! I just haven't tried that shape-changing part of it, you know?" She touched her gem, smiling. "I don't want to change how I look though."

"No reason to change," Chroma said fondly, chin resting in her hand.

"Right?" Viri gave her a little pat on the head, a few inches away from her gem.

Chroma grinned sheepishly. "Anyway, we're getting distracted. Aren't we supposed to be looking at what Violet's found?"

"Oh, right! Let's look at the cool stuff!"

While they were talking, Violet had discreetly started brushing the dust off of one item at a time, letting it fall into her lap. She glanced up when she heard her name mentioned and quickly placed the fuse she'd been cleaning back on the table. "Feel free," she offered. "Aura, can I drink this now?" she asked, pointing to her tea.

"It's up to you! The longer you leave it in, the stronger the flavor is, so you can taste it and see."

Violet hummed thoughtfully, picking it up and taking a sip. "It's really nice," she said. "I'll leave it in so it gets even nicer."

"Good plan," Aura said with a smile. "I'm glad you like it."

She nodded. "You can take what you like from all of this in return," she said, pointing to the scattered items. "Oh, and here's some of your fuses, Chroma," she added, passing them to Aura to pass around to Silver and then to Chroma so they didn't go rolling all over the table. "I'll clean the rest up while you guys look."

Aura was always happy to browse through the things that Violet brought back to base—the biggest challenge was picking just one or two small trinkets to add to her own collection that she kept tucked safely in her gem. To her delight, this time she discovered there was a little piece of ancient Era 1 pottery that matched one she'd put in Crimson's office not so long ago. "May I?" she asked, holding it up, and Violet nodded. Her choice made, she continued looking just for fun, and the others did too. Steven and Viri kept oohing and aahing over each thing, and Violet's bandana couldn't hide the smile on her face at the praise.

Viri politely shook her head when offered her own choice of item, saying she just liked looking, but Steven carefully picked out an intricate hilt from an old sword. "I bet Pearl will like it," he explained. "Unless you guys need it for something."

"No, it's fine," Chroma said. "It's a common metal, and Azalea would probably only be able to get use out of it if she melted it down."

"Okay!"

As he settled back into his spot, Aura saw Violet's gaze flick to Tangerine and Cyan, who'd been leaning in to look but not touching. "Um," Violet mumbled, "you can pick something too if you'd like. Since we're celebrating you."

Tangerine just looked at her for a moment, then whispered a quiet "Thank you." She focused intently on the choice she'd just been offered, and Violet focused equally intently on her, following her eyes as they traveled from item to item.

After a few minutes of quiet, everyone recognizing that they shouldn't distract her, Tangerine parted her lips slightly. Her hand grabbed for Cyan's after a small struggle to get the words out, and she had just managed to begin with "I" when Violet picked up the bracelet she'd been looking at and tilted her head.

Tangerine nodded gratefully. "If it's okay."

Violet smiled, no doubt in her eyes, and Tangerine began to reach for the thin chain that was still being held out.

Before she could though, Violet quickly tugged her bandana loose from around her neck and began to vigorously polish the bracelet. Tangerine was startled by the sudden movement, but she just watched wide-eyed as Violet made quick work of making the metal shine.

It was offered to her again, freshly cleaned, and Tangerine smiled as it dropped into her palm. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"Would you like me to put it on you?" Cyan asked gently.

"Yes, please," Tangerine said, and she looked amazed as the delicate treasure was fastened around her wrist. She shook it a little, and a warm smile crept up on her lips at the sound and feel of it.

Violet watched the other Pearl take in the gift, moving it around, running her fingers along the chain in fascination. One of the first gifts in her life. After a moment, Violet's gem began to glow softly on her chest.

 _Aha._ Aura smiled, finding something very sweet in the honest reaction, even though she was surprised. It wasn't a commonly occurring thing, she'd thought, but maybe it varied from gem to gem. Aura's glowed a tiny bit sometimes when she was really happy—and also around Silver and Chroma, in most cases, so she'd assumed it was love-related.

Well, Tangerine did look very stunning now that she was back to full health. Who could blame Violet for having a crush?

Aura touched Violet's arm, hoping to spare her the embarrassment of pointing her gem out verbally. But when she gestured to the light, Violet immediately scrambled to cover up her gem, slapping her hand over it and managing to knock over the entire teapot, her _and_ Aura's cups, and at least a third of the miscellaneous items in front of her along the way.

Tangerine quickly backed up to avoid the spill, while Aura was a little too close to get away unscathed. Thankfully the tea, while hot, didn't feel too bad, it just soaked her clothes and made the gossamer fabric cling oddly. Chroma and Silver hastily grabbed the fuses to keep them from getting wet.

"I'm so sorry!" Violet exclaimed, rushing to pick up everything that had fallen despite the fact that she had even more tea on her. "I'll clean it up!"

"It's okay," Aura said soothingly.

"I'll go get something to clean with!"

"But I have—"

Violet dashed off immediately, hand still pressed over her gem, and Aura sighed.

"…Is she okay?" Steven asked worriedly. "Her gem was lit up weird."

"I'm sure she's alright, it was just an accident," Aura said, righting the teapot. _So much for going unnoticed. Sorry, Violet._

Tangerine and Cyan reached for some napkins to help clean up, but Silver waved their hands away. " _We got it, we got it. You're our guests._ "

"But—"

" _Guests_ ," she repeated, Chroma nodding as she echoed her.

Aura quickly pulled out a few cloths from her gem that she didn't mind using to clean up—she'd feel bad if she wasted a bunch of napkins that couldn't be reused. Steven was quick to help them too, and she was surprised by how little hesitation he had doing what would usually be a Pearl's task. "Thanks," she told him as he handed it back upon finishing. It had been quick work, with four of them.

"No problem! Is Violet going to come back though?"

"I'm sure she will eventually, she's probably just embarrassed…"

To her surprise, Violet came rocketing back in before she could even finish her thought, deposited about ten duplicated towels beside Aura without even looking at the table, blurted out a quick "Sorry!" and took off once more.

"Ah."

"I didn't do something to upset her, did I?" Tangerine asked uncertainly.

"No, no, it's definitely not that!" Aura said hastily. "She's shy, that's all. It's difficult with strangers, you know? Even I get intimidated sometimes with new gems. She's really, really sweet though. I'm sure you'll get along well!"

Tangerine nodded, looking relieved. "I get that."

"Right?" She smiled. "Besides, a little extra excitement is alright. And it gives me an excuse to get a second round of tea ready, if you're interested?"

"Definitely. Cyan?"

"I'll stop at one cup, but you have as many as you want," she answered with a smile.

" _Still disappointed about the blueberry?_ "

"I am not!"

" _You definitely are._ " Silver grinned, passing Tangerine another tangerine tea bag. " _Here you go._ "

"Thanks," she murmured, blushing.

Aura soon had more water boiling via the makeshift apparatus Pearl and Chroma had thrown together for her to power the kettle with. Second cups were poured out for Tangerine, Viri, Steven, and Aura herself this time, and they sat in comfortable silence this time as they waited.

Silver squeezed Aura's knee gently under the table, a silent _good job_ on the tea party.

She was glad it had worked out, in its own way.

* * *

After tea, Aura, Chroma, and Silver started Tangerine's tour while Steven and Viri went to pick out treats for Azalea. The tour was fun to do—usually the three of them weren't able to conduct them together, and Aura found it gave them a nice balance. Cyan and Tangerine were attentive too, Tangerine even confident enough to start asking questions towards the end to get to know the place better.

When it was finally time to take them to their new room, the three bade them farewell so they could get settled in on their own. Chroma lingered behind for a moment to talk to Cyan, and Aura was proud of her for doing that, for not getting too self-conscious of yesterday's mistake to let that keep her from getting to know the other Pearl. She gave the two of them a little wave and tried not to eavesdrop as she waited a few rooms over outside her own door.

"Already got more missions to plan?" Chroma was asking.

"Always going to be the case, it seems like." Cyan's eye fixed on her steadily. "I might ask you to go on one I'm working on now. How are you at stealing?"

"I'm okay, but Silver's the one you want."

"Silver?"

"Mm-hm. Don't ask me how, she was cooped up in this place her whole life until recently."

"Everyone always refers me to White when I ask about stealing," Cyan mused.

"Ah, I should rephrase. White's who you send when you want something done fast. Silver's who you send if you want something done carefully."

"What if I send both of them?"

"Sending White _with_ anyone is a bit of a challenge, but…I guess it could work? That's uncharted territory."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Anything else I can help you with?"

"Not that I can think of but thank you."

"You're welcome." Chroma took a small step backward. "Um, let us know if you do. We're just down the hall, and we don't mind interruptions from friends."

"We…" Cyan blinked slowly, then smiled. "Okay. Thanks."

"See you soon?"

"Yeah, see you soon."


	37. Chapter 37

Blue spent most of the day training, not really sure what else she should occupy herself with. She'd kind of wanted to sit in the common room and find someone to talk to, but then there'd been the tea party for Tangerine, and she didn't want to interrupt that. So instead she went back to the training room and sparred with Snow and a nameless orange Pearl. They were both definitely beginners and while Blue enjoyed the matches, she felt like she was doing more teaching than learning, which wasn't great when she still had a long way to go herself.

She wondered if Pearl might be up for a round or two instead, or a proper training session, or even just a conversation. She seemed to always be busy lately, while Blue was…decidedly not. Blue didn't have a clear role to fill here and that was fine, maybe it would take a little while, but she did need _something_ to do as she tried to figure out what that role would be.

Yes, she'd go see Pearl. The other gem could probably use a distraction too; she'd been looking rather stressed ever since their arrival on Homeworld.

Blue found her, as expected, in the Crystal Gems' room. "Hey," she greeted her, smiling as the door opened. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Pearl said. "You're always welcome."

"Thanks." She stepped inside and glanced around, catching sight of the plans laid out neatly across the desk. "You're in the middle of something?"

"Nothing urgent. Why?"

"Um, well…" She pushed her hair back from her face, a gesture that was more habit than necessity. "I was wondering if we could keep doing some of the training that we started on Earth? With just the three of us, I mean. Or two, since Yellow's busy."

"Oh."

"Not that I don't enjoy the group training sessions," Blue said quickly. "But…I guess I miss it a little."

"I'm sorry," Pearl said. "I hadn't noticed. Or, no, that sounds silly, of course I noticed we'd stopped, I just—" She cut herself off abruptly, shaking her head. "I'd be happy to continue our training sessions."

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

Pearl nodded.

"Thanks." Blue hesitated, not quite sure whether _How about right now?_ was an appropriate question. Instead, she found herself asking, "Um, you are…liking it here, right?"

"What?"

"The rebellion. You like being here?" Now that she was thinking about it, she began to worry. She was the one who'd asked Pearl to come.

Pearl sighed, hands wringing in front of her as she tried to formulate an answer. "I want to like it," she said finally.

"But you don't?"

"No. I do, I think." She gazed intently at a spot on the wall beside Blue and for a moment it seemed her mind had taken her somewhere else entirely.

"Then…?"

Pearl came back to the present, eyes jumping to Blue and then down to her own intertwined fingers. "It's hard not to feel guilty," she said softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…" She gestured vaguely, tears becoming visible in her eyes. "I gave up on them, didn't I?"

Blue stared at her, uncomprehending.

"I never believed that something like this would be possible. I didn't think Pearls could…" She drew in a shaky breath. "I don't even know how I rationalized that back then. It was sheer arrogance, thinking that it was only me out of all those thousands that could break free of my orders."

"Pearl," Blue said softly. "It's not like that."

"Isn't it? You believed they could do something."

"I believed _we_ could," Blue corrected her, the emphasis gentle but firm, "because you showed me there was something else to choose."

"By chance."

"No. Or yes, maybe, but it wasn't only chance that got you through your rebellion or that made you agree to help me and Yellow after so long. It was you." She smiled faintly. "And it's okay if you didn't believe the whole time."

"It's not okay, it's—"

"What I believed," Blue interrupted, "was that _someday_ things would happen, _someday_ we'd take action. And—And I don't regret believing that, but I wish I'd met Yellow sooner. I wish I'd had her there a few thousand years earlier to make me actually set things into motion on my own instead of waiting. You know?"

"You still accomplished far more than I did for everyone."

"We accomplished it together, didn't we? And we got here in the end."

"I suppose we did," Pearl said quietly. "And I suppose it's one of those things I need to…to move on from."

Blue nodded. "I don't think anyone here would want you to feel guilty about it. If anything, they're just happy to have you around."

"Are they?"

"Can't you tell?" she teased gently. "What with Silver always trying to get your attention…"

Pearl laughed a little, swiping at her eyes.

"They really have been trying to get to know you."

"Have they?"

"Yeah." Blue's throat felt oddly tight as she answered. "Yeah, they definitely have."

"I guess I was too caught up in my own head." Pearl smiled faintly. "You really think they'd like it if I…"

"I think they'd be really happy."

"I'll try to do that then. I-I know I've been worrying Steven and the others too, but I didn't know how to explain it to them." She touched Blue's arm lightly. "I don't say it enough, but I'm very glad to have other Pearls in the Crystal Gems now."

"Thanks."

"Thank _you._ " She glanced over to the notes on her desk. "I might take this over to one of the tables in the common room. Would you like to come?"

"Oh, um, no, it's okay. I should find something of my own to do." _Training will have to be later_ , she realized, trying not to let her disappointment show.

"Alright. I'll see you later, Blue."

"See you later. Good luck."

* * *

Steven's face lit up the moment he saw Pearl come into the common room. "Hi!"

"Hello," she answered, catching his contagious smile. "I thought I'd come out here for a little bit."

"That's great!" He gave her a hug. "Missed you."

"Was I gone that long?" Pearl asked guiltily. She'd known she hadn't been as sociable around the other Pearls on base, but she hadn't realized it had affected Steven too. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's okay! I was just a little worried since you never come hang out in here like Garnet and Amethyst do."

"Ah, yes, I know. I'm going to be better about that from now on."

Steven nodded, giving her an encouraging smile. "I bet it's probably really weird for you to be back, so it's okay if you need time to adjust."

"That's…" She gazed down at him fondly. "Thank you, Steven."

"Yo, P!" Amethyst called. "Get over here already, Steven's got a present for you!"

"A what?" Pearl said, surprised.

"A present!" Steven confirmed.

"You better enjoy the special treatment," Garnet teased lightly. "Amethyst and I didn't get anything."

"You will, you will, I promise," Steven laughed, pulling at Pearl's hand to get her to follow him over. "Come on, it's over here. We were trying to clean it off for you."

"Oh?" Pearl began to be slightly concerned about what to expect from that disclaimer.

"Yeah, it's looking a lot better now," Steven said. He picked up something from the floor beside Garnet and held it out carefully in both hands. "Here you go!"

Her attempt at a polite smile quickly melted into a genuine one. "Oh, Steven," she breathed, leaning forward to look at the antique sword hilt being offered to her. "Thank you."

"You like it?"

"Of course I do," Pearl said. "It's beautiful. Do you know how old this must be?"

He shrugged, smiling. "I figured you would tell me."

And she did, immediately launching into gem history and the conception of this particular weapon type and a lot of things Steven didn't totally follow but was happy to listen to anyway. He got comfortable between Garnet and Amethyst as they watched her recount numerous details and pick up the sword hilt with just the very tips of her fingers to examine it enthusiastically.

"You picked a winner," Garnet whispered to Steven.

He giggled quietly. "I didn't know she'd like it _this_ much."

Amethyst bumped his shoulder. "'Course she does, you gave her somethin' to add to her sword collection. And it's from you, so it's automatically better."

"And it would be rare to even find part of one," Garnet added.

"Ooh, I'll have to tell Violet next time I see her then!"

"Do you think she could tell me where she got it?" Pearl asked, pausing in her friendly lecture. "Wait, which one is Violet again?"

"She's purple and kinda has the same hair as you," Steven volunteered.

"Like this?" Amethyst laughed, shapeshifting into an exact copy of Pearl.

"No, no," Steven laughed. "A different purple. She's out scavenging a lot, so maybe you guys haven't seen her very much!"

"Ah, I see." Pearl finally took a seat. "So she found this while she was exploring?"

"Yep! I bet she'd be happy to look for more stuff like this if you ask."

Pearl nodded, then stopped herself, frowning slightly. "Well, I wouldn't want to distract her from getting the things the rebellion really needs…"

"It wouldn't be any trouble."

She jumped at the sound of another gem's voice behind her and turned to see the aforementioned purple Pearl.

"Sorry, I just overheard and…" Violet looked sheepish. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"No, no, it's quite alright. Um, nice to meet you. It's Violet, right?"

She nodded. "Nice to meet you again."

"And really, I don't need you to go out of your way to look for things like this but…"

"It's okay. I bring back everything I find, so it's not like it'd be a bother. You can look through stuff whenever you want."

"May I?" Pearl brightened. "I'd like that, if you don't mind."

"Sure." Violet smiled. "Uh, me and Aura usually sort through in here when I get back from a trip, so, um, you can join us? Though there's not really a schedule or anything…"

"I'm sure we'll cross paths. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Violet hesitated, her eyes lingering curiously on the hilt, then saluted before hurrying away.

"Aww, making new friends already," Amethyst said, grinning.

"Well, I don't know about that, we only just met."

"Nah, you'll get along, she was totally into your nerd lesson."

"Hmm." Pearl narrowed her eyes. "I take it that means _you_ aren't."

"I might stick around if you start talking about some cool battles."

"Ooh, yeah!" Steven said. "I want to know about that too!"

"Alright," Pearl laughed, settling into place beside the other Crystal Gems. Suddenly this didn't feel so different from evenings they'd spent together on Earth. "Let's see then…"

* * *

Crimson didn't know what _normal_ days were supposed to feel like, but they seemed to be of short supply in the rebellion. What else could be expected?

She had spent nearly a thousand years without any sense of steady normality, so it wasn't as if it bothered her. But she had just barely, cautiously, gotten used to what normal looked like here with Silver and Chroma before everything started happening all at once.

 _Figures_ , she told herself. _Nothing's meant to last anyway._

The sentiment didn't sound nearly as reassuring as it once had.

Right now, Crimson's instinct was to go out, clear her head, find a few more Pearls she could tell about the rebellion and possibly bring back.

But even that had its complications these days. They were going to have to renovate to put more rooms in, so that new recruits would have proper places to stay. And they'd been talking about putting in some other rooms too, so that Steven would be able to have all the human things he was accustomed to having at home like "kitchens" and "showers." Should they start making those changes before or after the warp pad was done? Would it spread Chroma and the others too thin? Would it bother the Crystal Gems that the warp pad wasn't the absolute highest priority project anymore?

And beyond all that, she had to think about…

"Crimson!"

White appeared in the doorway, breathing heavily. "What is it?" Crimson asked, and the other Pearl started talking before she even finished the question.

"Caddy found some Pearl fusion that needs healing and somebody to get her to safety."

Crimson promptly pushed all other thoughts aside and stood up. "Show me where."

White's gem lit immediately with a map, and she pointed.

"Okay, good. Let's get some tears and help her."

"I can't go with you, I have to run."

"White—"

"I mean it, I have to run!"

She was scared, Crimson realized, and her gem panged with sympathetic fear. "Okay. Okay, you go. I'll handle it."

White nodded, taking off as fast as her legs would carry her.

* * *

Crimson honestly wasn't sure if the broken Pearl from the fusion would make it, but she left her with her matching partner in the pool of healing tears and hoped for the best. The whole incident had been nerve-wracking for _Crimson_ , so she couldn't imagine how the undissipated Pearl must feel.

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Aura asked quietly as she joined Crimson in the little lounge area outside of her office.

She shrugged, shaking her head. "I hope so."

"Me too." Aura sighed, pulling her legs up and tucking them to the side. "Is it common, having two Pearls? I didn't think it was, but then we have Tangy and Cyan, and these two…"

"I think they belonged to two Topazes."

"Ah."

"But we do tend to attract outliers, don't we?" Crimson added with a small smile.

"Yeah." Aura looked at her for a moment. "What are you worried about? Do you think someone's going to notice they're missing?"

"I'm not sure about that, it's more that White came here when she probably shouldn't have risked it. She won't say much about her Diamond, but I can tell she must be getting suspicious."

"You can tell her to stay, next time she comes?"

Crimson clenched her fists tightly on her lap.

"You think she might not come back," Aura realized.

"I don't know. There's no telling what tiny thing is going to mean the end for her, and today—she was panicking, Aura."

"Oh." Her voice trembled slightly. "I-Is there anything we can do?"

"I keep thinking," Crimson murmured, "but we've tried every way I know to convince her. The only thing I can think of now is if we just…keep her here by force. But I can't—that's not right."

"No," Aura agreed quietly.

"But it's not right to let her go and get shattered either."

"No."

"What do you think?"

Aura bit her lip. "I think I just want there to be a third option."

"Me too."

She hesitated. "What about Sky and Caddy?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…they'll be closer, if anything does happen, right? Maybe they can help."

"I can't order them to risk their own safety. The rebellion needs them. To be there, with their Diamonds."

"Crimson," Aura said gently, "it's not about that."

"…No, it isn't." She dropped her head into her hands. "But I'm supposed to be practical, right? I have to prioritize, even if I don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because I have to make _some_ decision. If I let it be, then…"

"I don't mean you shouldn't make a decision," Aura said. "Just that you don't have to do it like that."

"Hm?"

"W-Well…" Aura sounded almost surprised that Crimson wanted her opinion on this kind of thing. "Given the chance, I think Caddy and Sky would do everything they could for White, even without you asking. So…So it's not wrong to ask, right? Maybe if we keep the two of them closer to her on missions and things, then she'll be a little safer."

She considered it for a moment, then lifted her head. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. That would be something, at least."

"And if Caddy keeps trying to get through to her," she added, "maybe it'll help White see there's choices besides waiting for White Diamond to hurt her?"

Crimson nodded. "So…less ordering, more directing things a little bit."

"Exactly."

"Maybe you should be the one doing this job," she said, smiling.

"I don't think so," Aura said warmly. "I'm just glad I can help you think through things."

"Well, you're very good at it." Crimson opened one hand invitingly and Aura settled her own soft fingers into Crimson's slightly callused ones. "Thank you. This doesn't hit too close to home for you, does it?"

"Hm? Oh, with White?" She shook her head. "No, I'm okay. It's tough to watch, but I'm okay." She lifted her hand, ran her pointer finger along Crimson's palm. "I guess we're similar in a way but…White's still waiting for a push to run, you know? Like I had with Blue and Yellow's escape. I'm just afraid she won't get hers fast enough."

"Me too. I wish I knew how to give her that push."

"You can't," Aura said softly. "It just happens."

"Yeah, I know." And it wasn't like Crimson had any right to judge White when it had taken her far, far too long to run herself. She glanced at Aura. "Did you need something? Sorry, I forgot to ask."

"No, I'm good, I just wanted to sit with you."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Would you like a hug?" Aura offered gently.

"That would be great," she answered with a weary smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Aura wrapped her arms loosely around Crimson from the side, resting her cheek against her left shoulder. "Just do your best," she murmured.

"I don't know what that is yet."

"That's okay," Aura said. "That's okay too."

* * *

"Hiya, boss! Aura said you wanted to see us?"

The atmosphere in the room seemed to immediately brighten with Caddy's arrival, as it always did. The young Pearl had initially seemed like she might be a wild card—like White had turned out—but she was actually pretty reliable and Crimson was starting to appreciate her energy more and more as she got to know her. And Sky too, attached at the hip as always, bringing a subtler warmth with her. Crimson didn't have to ask about White—it would have been obvious if something had happened to her.

"I did," Crimson said, standing up to greet them. "Hi, it's good to see you."

"Hi, Crimson," Sky greeted her with a smile.

"You're being weirdly formal," Caddy commented. "Should we be worried?"

"No, no. Or…not about anything new. I just think it's time we discussed White again. All of us together."

Caddy's shoulders went unusually rigid. "I'm not going to give up on her."

"What?" Crimson asked, taken aback.

"You're going to tell us to—"

"No, she's not," Sky interrupted gently. "She wants to see White safe too."

"Oh." Caddy relaxed a little. "You do?"

Crimson nodded. "We're not going to get anywhere if we start giving up on each other."

She beamed. "So what's the plan?"

"Can you stay for a little bit to talk right now?"

"Yeah, our Diamonds shouldn't need us for a while," Sky answered, taking a seat.

"Yep, all good," Caddy agreed. She sat too, kicking her legs up to rest on the corner of Crimson's desk. After a second's thought, she shapeshifted her hair to match Aura's. "That's better. What's up?"

"Well…" Crimson paced back and forth once before sitting back down behind her desk. That, as Caddy had put it, felt _weirdly formal_ , so she scooted it around to sit in a sort of half-circle with them. "You've both said that you want to help White, of course. Our options are pretty limited but, with your permission, I'd like to request that one or both of you accompany her on missions from now on."

Sky began to fidget nervously with her jacket. "Accompany like…?"

"Just accompany," Crimson said quickly. "With someone to rein her in a little, she might be less prone to taking chances."

"And if something does happen, then…"

"Then I'll leave it to your discretion."

"What?"

"Obviously we're gonna save her," Caddy said.

"No," Crimson said firmly. "Not 'obviously,' Caddy. We don't know what'll happen. We can't predict whether it'll even be possible for you to do anything when the time comes."

"But—"

"Caddy." Sky touched her arm lightly. "It's not about how much we want to save White. It's about how much we can do without putting our own lives at risk too."

Crimson nodded. "That's why this is up to you. I'm not going to order you to prioritize one gem's safety over another's, because…look, if we were only thinking of the rebellion, then I would have to prioritize you two. But that means we'd be judging White's life as worth less than yours."

"She does that enough herself already," Caddy murmured, fire gone out of her eyes. "I hate it."

"Me too," Crimson agreed. "So I want you three—or you two, I guess—to keep yourselves balanced. Protect White _and_ protect each other."

"We can do that," Sky said firmly.

"Definitely," Caddy echoed.

"Thank you. I don't know if it'll help in the end, but it's much better than doing nothing."

Sky nodded, looking nervous, and Caddy reached over to take her hand and squeeze it tight.

"We got this." Caddy sat up just the tiniest bit straighter. "So is it, like, there's a particular mission you need her for or…?"

"Partially, yes." Crimson pulled up a few images on her screen, holding it out for them to take a look. "We need to steal a warp core."

"We _what?_ " Caddy exclaimed. "Boss, that's—somebody's gonna notice that for sure. I thought my favorite doppelganger and her posse were going to use that old junk they hauled in."

"They were," she said. "That material's fine for the main construct, but any cores left inside were too damaged to repair."

"Should we really be grabbing such a high-risk item right now though?" Sky asked carefully. "I mean, I know the Crystal Gems want to be able to get back home, but…it's not urgent, is it? Couldn't we wait until White is…"

"In theory, yes," Crimson admitted. "But it's more than just their way back home. We don't have a good escape route here, not really, and I'm not sure how much longer we can put that off before it comes back to bite us."

"But the base is safe—" Sky sighed, cutting herself off. "No, I know, we do need one."

"We need a lot of things," Crimson said. "And since we're going to have to make the effort to steal one of the cores eventually, I'm hoping we can grab a lot more along with it too. There's a shipment leaving for a brand-new colony planet and we're not going to get many opportunities to get a big haul like that. The next one scheduled is quite a way out."

She nodded slowly. "And how do we get away with that?"

"Replicators," she said with a smile. "Most everything can be replicated—even the warp cores themselves, Pearl says, though it's best not to risk it. So we'll take the originals of those, leave the duplicates."

"And everything else we just make one copy and stick it in our gems?" Caddy leaned forward excitedly. "Damn, White's gonna be mad she didn't come up with that idea sooner. You know, if she was the type that got mad in the first place."

"To be honest, I'm already kicking myself a bit for not thinking of it," Crimson laughed. "But then again, I'm not sure it's a good idea to have White running around with a replicator wand all the time."

"True, true! Plus it's one of those things like 'Do I _really_ wanna stick this in my gem?' Like it's probably totally fine but the tech's so old that you don't quite trust it."

Sky laughed as Caddy gesticulated wildly. "I know, it feels like you might replicate yourself, doesn't it?"

"Right? I've already got two of myself, I don't need another one!"

"The rebellion wouldn't be able to handle it."

"But if there's more of me, then White wouldn't be able to ignore me!"

"You're going to win her over by swarming her?"

"Well, maybe not, but if I make like a hundred of me, maybe I can take on White Diamond!"

"Can you take Blue Diamond out while you're at it?"

"I'd take out _all_ the Diamonds if you asked me to!"

"Okay," Crimson cut in before Caddy could really get going. "Putting that impossible and morally dubious strategy on the back burner…"

"Aww, I thought it had potential," Caddy sighed dramatically. "Wait, what's morally dubious about it?"

"You'd be creating a bunch of Pearls and telling them to go fight a Diamond."

"Ohh, yeah, fair point. And I'd have to figure out what to do with them all afterward. Okay, Caddy clone takeover is cancelled until further notice!" She grinned. "Alright. What were you saying before?"

"I have no idea anymore," Crimson said, amused. "Oh, wait! The mission."

"Mission Protect White?" Caddy asked.

"No, Mission Get Ourselves A Warp Core Et Cetera Et Cetera, with Sub-Mission Protect White."

"That's kind of a long name, boss."

"Abbreviate as you see fit." Crimson smiled, tilting her chair back slightly and then letting it fall forward. "Cyan and I were thinking you three plus Silver? Two of you to go in and duplicate and steal everything, and two to keep watch and provide backup if needed."

"That makes sense," Sky agreed, still grinning.

"Do you have any preference on who does what? Cyan wanted my advice but honestly I think you'd be the ones to figure out the best arrangement amongst yourselves."

"Me and Sky!" Caddy volunteered. "And Silver can punch anybody who gets close to White."

"That's terrible reasoning," Sky laughed.

"What do you mean? We're a great team!"

"Yeah, but we have to split up for this one. White's automatically going to be on the stealing side of things, and Silver is backup, right?"

"That is what I was thinking," Crimson said.

"Fine," Caddy pouted. "I guess it'd be kind of hard to help White when neither of us is there with her. Who do you wanna go with?"

"Um…Silver, I guess? You and White get along better."

"Okay!" She gave Sky's ponytail a friendly tousle. "Plus you're better with a sword than I am. You and Silver will be an awesome team."

She blushed slightly. "Thanks."

"Speaking of swords, I do want all of you to be carrying weapons," Crimson added. "If there's a particular kind you like, go talk to Azalea and get them sharpened. I don't want to take any chances."

"Got it!" Caddy stretched her arms. "Is it okay with Silver if we ditch them with her after though?"

"Yeah, she won't mind."

"Cool."

"Is there anything else we should know?" Sky asked.

"I think Cyan can fill you in on the rest when you talk to her."

"Okay." She hesitated. "We're going to do our best."

"I know you will." Crimson smiled gently. "Just remember, I'd rather have the four of you home safe than have a warp core, if it comes down to that."

Sky nodded, jumping up to give her a hug. "Thanks, Crimson. That—That means a lot."

Crimson nodded, holding onto Sky securely and making eye contact with a smiling Caddy over her shoulder. Stars, they seemed so new. But she had to trust they'd be able to handle this, because she didn't know what else she could do. "Take care," she whispered, and she wished she could feel some of the soft spark of confidence that shone in Sky's blue eyes as she pulled away.

"You take care too," she said warmly. "Okay?"

"Okay." She tried to give the two of them a reassuring smile as she sent them off to Cyan for some preliminary preparation. "I honor your service."

 _Nothing's meant to last, but I hope you do._


	38. Chapter 38

"I still don't understand why I can't go on my own," White said, arms crossed loosely but defiantly over the spiky front of her leotard.

"'Cause that's _boring!_ " Caddy told her. "C'mon, it'll be fun, all three of us!"

Silver clapped her hands once, then made a _What about me?_ gesture.

"Plus Silver. You wanna be honorary Pink Diamond's Pearl so we're a complete set?"

" _Somehow that's not very appealing..._ "

"Yeah, understandable," Caddy laughed.

"There's no reason for all four of us to go," White said stubbornly, gaze directed beyond Caddy and Silver to where Crimson was standing.

"There is, actually," Crimson said smoothly. "It's a dangerous mission and I don't want to send you in alone."

"Why not? I was on my own when I went and got the new Pearl with a weird name and her friends."

"Drini," Caddy supplied helpfully, absentmindedly twirling the shawl she'd borrowed from a blushing Ory to cover her gem around and around.

"Yes, that one."

"There's a difference between grabbing a few Pearls that are just going to be shattered and grabbing a valuable piece of equipment in a higher-traffic area." Crimson paused, grimacing. "I phrased that badly, but you know what I mean."

White shrugged. She didn't care to pick people's words apart and get offended by them. It was true, Homeworld would consider the warp core more valuable than discarded Pearls.

"Alright, good," Crimson said, either taking White's shrug as some form of understanding or just pushing forward before there could be any more argument. "Get shapeshifted and head out."

Wasn't really worth the argument, White decided. They needed to focus on the mission, and it wasn't like she _couldn't_ work with Cadmium and Sky and Silver. She'd just rather not. "Okay," she agreed, doing as she was told and going to the door to wait for the others.

"All set?" Crimson checked with Sky as she came out of the communications room.

"All set," she confirmed with a quick smile. Her hair had been taken down from its usual ponytail, helping disguise the communicator she wore, and she only wore a simple blue leotard and flats. "Sorry, did we hold you up?"

"No, no, you're fine," she reassured her. "Just making sure you didn't have too much trouble with the comms system."

"Only a reasonable amount of trouble," she said lightly. "It's working now."

"Glad to hear it. Okay, you'd better go. Be safe."

Sky nodded as the four of them gathered together.

"We'll be fine, boss!" Caddy agreed, slinging a friendly arm around Sky and sticking out her tongue at White when she dodged the group hug. She pulled Silver in instead, receiving a sturdy squeeze. "We'll have our warp core here before you know it!"

Crimson smiled, waving to them as they started out to the main door.

Silver was the only one who lingered behind, catching the unspoken worry in Crimson's eyes. " _I'll look out for them._ "

She nodded, turning her gem shoulder slightly towards Silver to project her own words. " _I know. Come home safe._ "

* * *

It wasn't hard to get to the hangar where the supplies were waiting, but it _was_ a challenge to do it without letting gems see them. Silver and Sky had it easier, since they would be staying outside, tucking themselves out of the way for the time being, but with a clear view of the hallway available so they could keep a lookout. White and Caddy had to sneak their way into a room that Pearls usually wouldn't be seen going into alone.

"What if I just shapeshift into a different kind of gem?" Caddy muttered under her breath as they made their fourth pass down the hallway. They wouldn't be able to get in this time either, there were a couple Agates loitering by one of the other rooms now and they'd definitely notice something amiss.

"No."

"But—"

"The place'll clear out in a few minutes, White Diamond's holding court today."

Caddy turned to her in alarm. "Without you?"

"Mm, that was her orders. Keep walking."

She gulped and continued, attempting to look unrattled by the detail White had just let slip. "White, you know that—"

"Not now, Cadmium."

No, it wasn't the time, she knew, but she had to say _something._ But what? Her gem felt heavy under the shawl and all she could manage was a halfhearted attempt at her usual reply. "It's Caddy."

"Not now," White repeated, more to herself than to Caddy, and the other Pearl wondered if she'd been heard at all.

Why didn't White ever _talk_ to them? Why hadn't she said something before this mission, if she'd known White Diamond had either grown too bored or too suspicious of her? There was no way Caddy was letting her return to her Diamond when this was over. No way. But now truly was not the time to argue.

The halls did indeed clear out as White had said, the elites rushing off to prepare themselves and everyone else following them in hopes of catching the latest gossip from outside. Caddy and White hurried over to the door and White tapped in her passcode to open it. Easy.

Caddy flashed Sky and Silver a quick smile as they came out to keep closer guard on the door, under the guise of Pearls waiting for their owners to return from inside. "Be right back!" she told them.

Once they were in, she quickly scanned the room to make sure they were alone, then bounced a little on the balls of her feet, trying to bring back her earlier energy. They were going to do this, they were going to get the warp core, and then they'd all go to base and she'd convince White to stay. Right. It would be fine. "Okay!" she declared. "Let's get ourselves a warp core."

White had already gravitated over to the abundance of supplies on the far side of the room, scouring the shipment for the device they needed.

"There's a lot of stuff here, huh?" Caddy asked, picking things up and then setting them back down in exactly the same spot once she'd confirmed the warp core wasn't hidden underneath.

White didn't answer, just kept up her own search.

"I think it'll be really cool to visit Earth, don't you?"

"I won't be around when the warp pad is finished," she said plainly.

The harshness of the emotionlessly delivered statement made Caddy want to cry, but she clenched her fists and put on as bright a smile as she could. "Sure you will. Me, you, and Sky can all go together."

"Focus on the mission, Cadmium."

"It's Caddy. And I _am_ focused, because I just found it!" She pointed triumphantly to a warp core suspended in a protective field. "So there," she said sweetly.

White ignored her, jumping over to kneel beside her. "I've never seen one of these before," she said, looking at it from multiple angles. The top and bottom were solid, while a protective field was generated between them in a cube-like shape. "Have you?"

"Nope. You think it's security or just to keep it from bouncing around if somebody drops it?"

"Might be both."

"I guess we could take the whole thing."

"We're supposed to duplicate it."

"Oh, right. Duplicate the whole thing then?" Caddy wrinkled her nose. "Wait, no, I think it has to be individual items."

"Who knows." White had shown a marked disinterest in the replicators Crimson had given them. Caddy suspected it lessened the thrill of stealing for her, which was cute. "Here," she said suddenly, peering over at the opposite side. "There's a place for a passcode."

"There is?" Caddy scooted around to take a look. "I guess it _might_ take ours."

"I'll try mine."

"Wait, wait, wait!" She grabbed for White's hand, catching it just in time. "You might set off an alarm!"

"We're more likely to set it off by moving it or trying to take it out of the room," she said with a shrug. "It'll at least give us more than one chance to put in a passcode."

Caddy hesitated, slowly releasing White's hand. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

White swiped her finger across the screen to activate it and then rapidly punched in her usual sequence that gave her access to anything her Diamond might require. A few seconds later, she was shaking her head. "Won't take it."

Caddy was still just relieved it hadn't set off any security measures. "Maybe it'll take mine."

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"Just no. We're not using yours."

"But—"

"If we're unsuccessful, they'll check and see what codes we put in. You'd just be implicating yourself."

"What about you?" Caddy demanded. "You shouldn't have—"

"Quit being loud." White stood up, staring down at the warp core. "We either get it out by force or we try to carry it like this."

"We're not sticking that in our gems with the field activated," she said sharply.

"Okay, force it is." White didn't seem particularly perturbed, just pulled one of the standard training swords from her gem.

"Maybe we should talk to Silver and Sky first and see what they—"

White gave her an impatient look and pointedly poked the tip of the sword into the side of the field. She withdrew it and waited about ten seconds. "No alarms," she said calmly, and then smashed it into the solid upper portion of the device.

Caddy yelped in surprise. "Fuck, White, you're going to crack me one of these days!"

"It didn't work," she said, ignoring Caddy and sounding a bit disappointed as she inspected the field.

"Well, no kidding," she sighed. "Wouldn't be very good at its job if anybody can swing a weapon at it and it shuts off."

"Hm."

Caddy frowned at the warp core, thinking. "Maybe we can interrupt the field with something instead of breaking it?"

"Like what?" White asked.

"Like…" She looked around, trying to find something in the objects around them. "Um…"

"I'll just keep hitting it."

Caddy rolled her eyes, smiling. "Alright, I'll see what I can do in the meantime."

There was no shortage of items in the room, but most of them weren't particularly useful. She didn't know what the techie stuff did, and it seemed like a bad idea to just randomly turn things on and see what would happen. The rest of it was simpler building supplies and basic materials—the kinds of things Crimson had wanted them to duplicate. But they were useless right now unless she just wanted to drop something heavy on top of the device and risk crushing the warp core along with it.

"Cadmium?"

"Huh?" She turned quickly to look at White, who was staring at the protective field that was now hovering about three feet off the floor.

"It wasn't me, it did that on its own." White gestured to other materials that had started lifting off the floor. "They're starting the automatic loading process."

"Already?" she groaned. "We were supposed to have more time!"

"Well, we don't." White gave the device another smack as it started trying to move away from her and got in its path to try and block it. Unfortunately, it just kept moving around her when it found something in its way.

"Okay," Caddy said quickly, pulling out the smaller sword she'd borrowed from Azalea and coming over to help White block it. "We've gotta keep it out here, the ship'll seal off once everything's on board and I don't think we'll have access to that either."

"And the pilot might be on her way once it's completed," White pointed out.

"That too. We still have a few minutes though, so let's…" She tried to examine all sides of the field, ducking down to steal a glance at the bottom.

"Is there something under there?"

"Yeah. Think it's the transport thingy?"

"One way to find out. I'll keep blocking it, you try and break it."

"Aww, teamwork! I'm really happy!"

" _Break it_ , Cadmium."

"It's Caddy. And I'm on it!" Caddy stabbed her sword up into the bottom of the device, aiming directly for the little glowing square that seemed to be controlling it. Her first strike didn't do much, but the second left a mark and the third and fourth made it crack in two. "Ha!"

The cube dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Good." White was thinking quickly, eyes darting around the room as she watched the materials being loaded onto the ship.

"What do we do now?"

"Grab the bottom part."

"Huh?"

"Grab it and we'll see if we can pull it far enough apart from this piece to weaken the field." White tipped the device sideways and fastened her fingers securely around the top.

"Ooh, good idea!" Caddy picked up the other end and walked backwards rapidly, White doing the same. The field holding the warp core stretched between them, a little warning beep starting up as the distance grew. "Come on," she muttered as she approached the wall. By the time both she and White had their backs pressed to opposite sides of the room, it was buzzing with the effort to keep the field up.

"I'll hit it with the sword again," White said.

"Hold on, I'll hit it on this end too. Go for the field itself this time, we can probably at least interrupt it now."

She nodded. "One, two, _three._ "

Both swords came down at the same time, and Caddy breathed a sigh of relief as the field fluctuated wildly and then vanished, letting the warp core drop to the floor with a clatter. Probably should have been more careful with that, but it seemed alright.

Caddy grinned as White went to pick up their prize, only for the achievement to be cut short by a screeching alarm and a loud, computerized announcement.

"Unauthorized activity detected. Initiating lockdown."

"What?!"

A second later, White was barreling into her, warp core clutched tightly in one hand as she shoved her towards the doors. "Go!"

It wasn't like they'd wasted any time in reacting, but by the time they'd reached the doors, an extra barrier had been slammed into place in front of the usual sliding doors and the keypad beside it had likewise been covered.

"No!" Caddy shouted, banging her hands against the unyielding door. "No! Come on!"

White had immediately gone for the panel where she could have put in her passcode but the only thing she could do was alternate between trying to pry up the cover and slamming her fist against it, panicked.

"Sky! Silver!" Caddy called, loud as she could. "Can you hear us?"

* * *

Sky recognized what was happening before Silver did, and she was spinning to try and open the doors before they could lock, to no avail. "Caddy! White!"

"What's happened?" Cyan asked urgently through the communicator. "Sky?"

"I don't know, they must have tripped some kind of alarm, they're locked in." Sky's throat felt dry as she tried to open the door one, two, three more times. "Caddy!" she shouted, banging on the door with her other hand. "Caddy, can you hear me?"

"Sky, listen, you need to get back to a safe hiding spot."

"They're stuck in there, I can't—" She broke off as Silver appeared beside her, flashing up a projection.

" _We won't be able to help if we get caught too._ "

Sky stared at the words, gem heavy in her chest. _Too._ Because Caddy and White were definitely getting caught now.

" _Sky, come on, please? We'll think of something, but you can't be out in the open like this when someone comes._ "

"Okay," she whispered, trying desperately to open the door one last time. "Hold on, Caddy."

* * *

"Sky?" Caddy shouted again. "Sky, are you there?"

Silence.

"Sky? Hello? Can you hear me?"

"It must be soundproofed," White said. "Okay, come on, we need to find a place to hide you."

"Hide _both_ of us!"

"Yes, but mostly you." White shoved her in the direction of the ship, and Caddy couldn't waste time protesting.

The thing was, with almost all of the items loaded onto the ship, there weren't many hiding places available. Going into the ship itself would only get them trapped. The best they could do was crouch down behind the ship and hope whoever came wouldn't notice them. It was a long shot at best.

"What did we do to set it off?" Caddy whispered. "Do you think there was alarm on the thing holding it after all?"

White shook her head, settling in beside her and making herself as small as possible. "The room's sensors probably picked up the energy spike when we broke the field. Everything's monitored in case there's a ship malfunction or somebody tries to steal one or whatever."

"You speaking from experience?" Caddy joked weakly.

"What?"

"You ever try and steal a ship?"

"What would I need a ship for?"

"Dunno, just think you'd look cool doing it."

"I haven't."

"Oh. Well, maybe today's the day."

"I mean, I'll try it if we have to. Do you know how to fly one?"

"Not in the least." Caddy heard a faint noise and quickly added a little "Shh!" before White could say anything else.

White and Caddy went dead silent as they heard the door being opened, exchanging quick, worried glances.

"Who will it be?" Caddy mouthed, not daring to make a sound.

"Don't know," White replied the same way.

The two of them waited impatiently for any hint as to their visitor and how dangerous she would prove. The footsteps that entered were heavy, or at the very least loud. Boots, Caddy could tell by the clack of heels.

"Agate," White mouthed to her.

Caddy nodded, fear spiking in her gem. An Agate was a good guess, but also one of the worst gems to be found by.

And they would most certainly be found. Any Agate worth her salt would check the whole room. Should they try and take advantage of the element of surprise before she got to them? Caddy was pretty sure that even with two of them, they didn't have the skill yet to take down an Agate. It'd be sheer luck if they even managed to restrain her.

Was staying still the best option? They were disguised at least somewhat, so perhaps they wouldn't be noticed as Diamonds' Pearls. Would that be good or bad? Which would give them a higher chance of survival here—seeming important or unimportant?

Caddy pressed her hand to her gem, wishing Sky were…well, not _here_ , but at least with her in some way.

White touched her arm, getting her attention and passing her the warp core to put in her gem. "When she finds us, run for the door."

Caddy shook her head aggressively.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Their silent argument was cut short by the appearance of a spotless pair of white boots.

* * *

"Someone get Yellow," Sky heard Cyan say as soon as she relayed that there was another gem in the room with Caddy and White. "And Blue. And if there's anybody else with high level clearance codes that I don't know about, get them too." She spoke to Sky again. "Listen, if we can't get the door open—"

"I'm getting it open."

"…Okay. Try Blue and Yellow's codes first, see if they'll work." There was slight rustling as the communicator was handed off to someone else.

"Our codes have more than likely been cancelled," came Yellow's clear voice, and its similarity to Caddy's made Sky want to cry. "But I can talk you through a few other methods too."

"Okay," Sky agreed shakily, and listened close as Yellow gave her the sequence to key in. Silver stood at the ready, guarding her back as her jittery fingers worked the panel. She glanced over her shoulder repeatedly, worried that someone else might come, even though she trusted Silver would alert her if that was the case.

As her hand left the panel, there was a split second when she fooled herself into thinking it might be as easy as just this one thing, but the doors remained firmly shut.

"It didn't work."

"Okay, Blue's going to tell you hers."

"Hey, Sky," Blue said quickly before rattling off her own code, not wasting any time.

That one was no better.

"I-It's not working."

"Okay, that's okay. Yellow's going to give you a few other things to try, so don't give up."

"Thank you," Sky replied. "I won't."

"Alright," Yellow said, taking over again. "I need you to tell me exactly what you see on the screen as we do this."

In another time and place, Sky would have appreciated that Yellow didn't get emotional, just kept listening and then reciting instructions piece by piece. But now, with one failure after another, she was only getting impatient.

Nothing was working. She was going to lose them. She had tried to prepare herself for losing White, but she was losing _Caddy_ too and that was too much.

"Sky, it's Cyan," came the other Pearl's voice suddenly. "I'm sorry, but you and Silver need to get out of there now."

"What?" she whispered, horrified. "You—You can't—"

Silver shot her a worried look.

"It's too dangerous for you to stay there any longer," Cyan said gently. "Come back to base."

"I'm not going back to base," Sky said shakily, her legs threatening to give out. "I—Caddy's in there."

"I know. I'm sorry, but there's nothing else we can do."

"There has to be! I-I can at least wait until the Agate comes out and—"

"If the Agate has found those two, she's not just going to walk away. She'll check for accomplices. She'll find you."

"No, no, it's fine, we'll make sure she doesn't—"

"Sky, I need you to calm down and listen."

"I'm not going to calm down! You can't ask me to abandon them!"

"Sky… Sky, can you put Silver on the line?"

"No."

"I just want to—"

"You want to tell her to make me come back, and I _won't_. I'm not coming back w-without…"

" _Sky_ ," Silver said, trying to get her attention.

"I won't leave! Please don't make me leave."

" _We need to get back to our hiding spot, okay? At least come away from the door._ "

Sky nodded mutely, letting Silver guide her back the way they'd come, two sturdy hands on her thin shoulders.

" _You know I don't want to leave them either, right?_ " Silver asked once they were out of plain sight.

"I-I know."

" _But Cyan has a point._ "

"I _know_ she does, but I can't just run away! I might still be able to do something!"

Silver was too kind to ask what she had left to try.

"Please don't make me go."

She looked torn, gem lighting briefly with no words, then going dark, then lighting once more. " _I don't know what to do, okay? But I think…_ " Silver hesitated, then took one of Sky's hands between her own as she finished. " _I think we have to think about keeping you safe too. About you staying on base permanently._ "

No. That wasn't how she wanted it. They—They were supposed to leave service _together_ , when the time was right. They were supposed to save White and then…then later it would be their turn. They had _plans_ , they had so many things they wanted to do once they were free.

" _It doesn't mean we're giving up on Caddy and White._ "

"Yes, it does," Sky whispered. Freedom wasn't meant to feel this hopeless. "I don't want to." Her voice was cracking. "Silver, please, I don't want to leave."

"Sky." A new voice came through the communicator, and Sky clutched at Silver's hand.

"Crimson? Crimson, you won't tell me to leave them, right?"

"I…" There was an awful, awful pause. "Sky, listen. You can have fifteen more minutes, okay? Cyan will tell you when the time's up, and I need you to listen. I need you to come home with Silver. Can you do that?"

"Fifteen minutes?"

"Fifteen. Any longer and we…we're going to have to assume the worst."

Like Sky hadn't already. "Okay," she said hoarsely. "Fifteen minutes."

"And you'll come back?"

"Yes."

"Promise me?"

"I-I promise." Tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Good. And I promise coming back does not mean we're giving up on Caddy and White. We just need to find another strategy."

"Okay. Thank you."

* * *

"Pearls?" The Agate seemed more curious than angry, but that didn't make Caddy feel any better. She quickly looked the other gem over, trying to place her. The Agate's gem was perfectly centered on the front of her left thigh, and it had what looked like a small pocket of water inside, only now stilling as she came to a halt in front of them. Her outfit was fancier than most Agates, and her hair had been styled in the current asymmetrical fashion with only one bun.

Caddy _had_ seen her before, but she didn't know anything about her besides White Diamond seemed to like her quite a bit, which was far from reassuring.

White, beside her, had gone rigid at the sight of the Agate. Not a good sign. But in an instant, she regained her composure, pushing Caddy up and away from her.

She didn't want to run, but she did anyway. If she could at least get the door open…

She should have realized immediately that it was futile, because the Agate made no move to stop her. But her mind was racing, and she _needed_ the door to work, needed to do something to make sure she and White didn't end up shattered.

Her attempts at opening the door fared no better than the first time they'd tried. The Agate, while allowing herself in and unlocking the panel that opened the door from the inside, hadn't fully shut off the lockdown. They were still trapped. And now…well, they'd shown some sign of rebelliousness even in hiding, so maybe it wouldn't really make much of a difference that she'd run to the door.

 _You're shattered, shattered, shattered._

No, Caddy told herself. She couldn't give up hope before they'd even tried. She might not have very much training, but she had a sword and she could hit a target as big as an Agate easy. The part that wouldn't be easy was incapacitating her.

But should she go for her sword now or wait? She still wasn't able to gauge whether they ought to reveal themselves as Diamonds' Pearls either. White might have been recognized already but… What was Caddy supposed to do?

Her thoughts were racing, but she'd only paused for a few seconds before she was brought back to attention at the sound of the Agate's voice.

"Are you finished? Come back here, Pearl." The Agate spoke loudly but calmly, not sparing Caddy more than a glance before turning her attention back to White. "Now," she added smugly, "perhaps White Diamond's Pearl could tell me what she's doing here."

Caddy saw the hand reaching for White and drew her sword in one swift motion, slicing the edge of the shawl slightly in her haste. "Don't touch her!"

"That's quite enough. I wasn't speaking to _you_." The Agate didn't even bother to draw her own weapon, just disarmed Caddy in one kick and sent her sprawling on the ground. Her sword was held securely under one boot as the Agate reached for White again, this time catching hold of her by the front of her leotard and lifting her up so she was at eye level. "Hello there. I _did_ wonder why you weren't with our illustrious Diamond today."

White had gone still and limp the instant the Agate grabbed her, and now she just looked back with wide, scared eyes.

"What are you doing in this plain outfit anyway? It hardly suits your beauty."

No response.

"Change it back, Pearl. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, disgracing your station like this."

"Yes." It seemed to be an automatic response, but White shifted her normal clothes back on all the same. Caddy was glad; she didn't want the Agate to get angry with them.

"Excellent, that looks much better. Such a fine Pearl." She pushed White's hair away from her gem to take a closer look at her. "Or so it seemed. White Diamond will be quite disappointed when I inform her of this treachery. She could never expect such behavior from a Pearl as exquisite as yourself." Her hand slid down the side of White's face, to her shoulder, down her arm in clear admiration.

Caddy wanted to punch her. Or—Or _something_ besides just watch her keep rambling on about White, but she was well aware of the little glances the Agate kept throwing her way, the pointed way she moved her thumb to keep it pressed into White's gem. She might not consider Caddy a real threat, but she was definitely going to make sure Caddy didn't think of herself as one either. She was just an annoyance to be kept at bay.

"I can't wait to see her face when I tell her what you've been doing," the Agate continued grandly. "She'll be so furious, I'm sure she'll shatter you on the spot. She's always been a bit _dramatic_ , our Diamond, but—wait." She stopped herself, frowning. "She'll shatter you."

 _No shit_ , Caddy wanted to say. _You just said that._

"That…That won't do at all. No." The Agate began looking at White with new appreciation. "No," she said again, "I'm not sure White Diamond needs to be informed of your indiscretion."

"What?" Caddy asked, the question slipping out before she could stop it.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Pearl," she said, sounding mildly irritated.

"You're not speaking to anybody, you're just giving the universe's most boring monologue." That might have been a bit much, she realized as soon as it was out, but there wasn't anything she could do about it now.

"You've got quite a mouth on you. I imagine whoever owns you won't miss it." The Agate looked to White. "You, on the other hand, are well worth taking for my own. White Diamond hardly cares what happens to her Pearls; I'm sure she won't ask any questions if you simply vanish. Or I could tell her I had to shatter you, did the dirty work for her. Though Diamonds can be picky about those sorts of things. I'll consider the options on our way back. Let me just take care of this nuisance first. Stars, who would want a Pearl like this?" She took a step toward Caddy.

"Yellow Diamond," White blurted out, her voice strained. She flinched instinctively as the Agate looked at her closely.

"What's that, Pearl?"

"Y-You asked who would want her. Yellow Diamond did."

"Oh?" The Agate gave Caddy a quick onceover. "I'm not sure I believe that. Let's see your gem."

"She is," White insisted. "You should bring her too."

 _Thank you, White._ Caddy knew she wasn't doing it so much out of friendship as out of logic, but it still meant something. _At the very least, it'll buy us some time._

"I don't normally take suggestions from Pearls," the Agate said, coming over to flip up Caddy's shawl and peer at her gem underneath it. Thanks _stars_ she hadn't grabbed the part where Caddy had attached the replicator wand. "But your accomplice seems to be quite special, as you say."

"She is," White said urgently.

"However, Yellow Diamond's or not, I have no interest in keeping her. You'll be more than enough on your own."

Okay, there went _that_ plan. Oh well, the Agate's interest in White was starting to creep Caddy out anyway.

"Yes, no need to keep two Pearls. You might start getting big ideas about escaping again if you stay together. By the way…" She frowned down at the broken protection field, grip tightening on White. "What did you steal?" She waited perhaps ten seconds before getting impatient with White's silence. "Not going to answer me? Fine. I'll just be sure to see what's in your gem once we get back to my quarters. Come along, we've wasted enough time."

 _Don't let her get White out of this room._ Caddy knew with certainty that it wouldn't end well, whatever happened. An Agate like this would be sure to make it very difficult for White to leave her quarters once she got her there.

"I'll tell Yellow Diamond what you've done," Caddy blurted out.

"And?" she said dismissively. "By all means, run back to your Diamond. I highly doubt she'll take the word of a Pearl that was practically made yesterday over an Agate with two thousand years of loyal service."

She was right, but Caddy had been hoping she wouldn't catch on so quick.

Well, screw it, she decided. All or nothing. She wasn't going to let White be shattered _or_ captured. In White's mind, the latter was probably worse, and the thought pained her. _I don't want her to have to be scared anymore._

Caddy grabbed for her sword with a swiftness she hadn't quite realized herself capable of. The Agate saw her coming and kicked the sword up so she could grab it in her own hand.

"I wish you'd settle down," she said irritably.

Caddy dodged the retaliatory strike aimed at her and hurried to put some distance between herself and the Agate. She had another sword in her gem as backup—thank stars Cyan and Crimson had been cautious about that kind of thing. She felt stupid for not just getting that out instead of going for the other one, but it was hard to think straight. And either way, if she went sword-to-sword against an Agate, she'd lose. There was too big a difference in both strength and skill. Maybe she could throw it? No. Caddy was a decent marksperson but the sword wasn't built for that and the likelihood it would hit her target effectively was too slim.

Think of something, think of _something._

The Agate seemed as if she couldn't be bothered to face one lone Pearl with a sword, and Caddy wasn't sure why she'd expected any different. Still, her gem went cold when she saw that the Agate blatantly ignored her, lowering White to the ground and beginning to pull her towards the door firmly. "Time to go, my Pearl."

"She's not yours!" Caddy shouted, fuming at how possessive that _my_ had sounded.

"Oh? Whose is she then?"

"No one's," Caddy spat. "She doesn't belong to anyone, and definitely not you!"

The Agate raised her eyebrows. "Well, be sure to tell the Diamonds that when they come get you. I'm sure they'll be very interested to hear all about it."

Caddy saw the Agate reach for the door panel and panic flared in her chest. _No, no, no, I can't let her separate us or White will be—_

Her gem glowed hot, almost painfully hot, and she shoved her hand up over it in shock. Her fingers met with the end of something sharp and she grabbed it tight, not caring what it was as long as it got them out of here.

It was a thin weapon, almost needle-like, and pointed on both ends with a ring in the center that she instinctively knew was where she was meant to put her finger.

Not that there was time for that now. As soon as she got a look at it, she was throwing it, aiming it straight at the Agate without wasting a second.

It wasn't her best aim, but it hit and stuck fast in the Agate's shoulder.

She gasped, probably not so much from pain as from surprise. "You!"

Well, she wasn't thinking about leaving anymore, Caddy thought triumphantly for about two seconds before the Agate yanked the point out and threw it on the ground in disgust.

"I don't know where you acquired these weapons, but I suggest you stop at once before I'm forced to shatter you myself for your insolence."

"I like being insolent, thanks. Now let her go." She put her sword away, preparing to summon again.

"I do not take orders from—" The Agate broke off, gaping in shock as Caddy pulled another of her weapons from her gem. This time, there was no mistaking it as anything besides summoning.

"I _said_ let her go," she repeated, voice icy with a mixture of anger and fear.

She had, it seemed, at least succeeded in scaring the larger gem. But the Agate went for the door all the same, preferring the idea of getting out and making off with White to staying to fight a Pearl.

Caddy didn't waste any time, rushing at the Agate on instinct and stabbing the second needle deep, deep into her back. Her fingers loosened for a split second, but it was enough for Caddy to knock White free of her grip, sending her spilling to the ground in a heap.

"Take one!" Caddy summoned another weapon and threw it to a stunned White, who just barely caught it.

Caddy's gem seemed to protest at having drawn three of them, so she dove to grab the fallen one from the floor. Her finger fit perfectly into the ring at the center and she gripped one in each hand, pausing only the briefest second before throwing herself towards the Agate again.

 _Get her away from White and away from the door._

She wasn't heavy enough to really be able to shove the Agate back, but rapid-fire stabbing seemed to do the trick just fine, driving the other gem back a few steps. She wasn't landing very many hits though.

And the Agate was going for her weapon now. _No_ thank you.

Caddy threw a kick at the Agate's gem that sent her stumbling back—hits to the gem always hurt, even if it wasn't enough to do real damage—and she quickly aimed her next stab at the Agate's neck.

It didn't make contact, but it was enough to get even further from the door.

Caddy glanced over her shoulder to check on White, and the other Pearl hadn't moved an inch, still looking absolutely terrified as she held tight to the weapon Caddy had given her. That was okay. As long as White was safe, Caddy didn't mind taking on this fight for her. She kept up her attack, ignoring the ache that was beginning in her arms and legs.

 _I have to keep at it._

Silver would have been a big help, or even Sky, but Caddy could do it. She had to.

And that, more than anything, was what kept her going, made her mind work quick to find the best places to strike, refused to get discouraged when she was pushed away repeatedly and her weapons didn't find their mark.

How was she meant to end this fight though?

Maybe…

With one last burst of energy, Caddy drew her second sword from her gem, swinging it hard at the Agate's head and finally managing to knock her off balance, sending her crashing to the floor. She immediately followed after the bigger gem, knees smarting as she dropped down to get close to the Agate's unprotected gem.

Caddy drove both her weapons in on either side of the gem, using every bit of strength she had to get them in deep. The Agate was immediately struggling beneath her, grabbing her and trying to yank her away, but she held on tight, the rings on her fingers cutting in but refusing to break.

"Get off of me!" the Agate screamed. "Stop it!"

"No," she managed through gritted teeth. " _No._ " She twisted the needles in as hard as she could, trying to get them to cut in underneath the gem.

"They'll shatter you for this! They'll do _worse_ than shatter you!"

Caddy cried out as large fingers caught in her hair, yanked hard. She immediately shapeshifted it away, leaving the Agate nothing to hold onto there. Come _on_ , she told herself, hating the visceral feeling of digging into the other gem's form but knowing she had to keep at it. She was just trying to pry the gem up now.

"What's _wrong_ with you!"

"You don't get to hurt the gems I care about! Now will you please just shut up and dissipate already?!"

"I will not—" The Agate screamed in pain as Caddy yanked on the needles hard. She kept grabbing at any part of Caddy she could reach, doing her best to throw the smaller gem off, but Caddy's weapons were dug in so firmly that it only worked against her.

It was all Caddy could do to keep her grip, to not give in to the shoving and punching and kicking that was aimed to dislodge her. Come on, come on, she kept telling herself. If she could just separate the Agate's gem from her body a little bit, it should—hopefully—trick it into thinking she was injured enough that she had to dissipate.

All the strain made it impossible to keep up her shapeshifting, and she gave in to her body's wish to snap back to her base appearance. She was glad, in retrospect, that she'd borrowed Ory's shawl and not created her own, because she liked having that extra layer of protection over her gem.

She yelped as her hair was grabbed again but held on all the same. She could hold out. She _could._ She just needed to keep working the needles in underneath the gem and…

"Cadmium!"

The shock of White appearing beside her nearly made her ease up, but she tightened her hold determinedly, barely able to look up before White's hand darted in to shove the third needle in _hard._

And that was what she needed. Caddy could feel a little bit of give where there hadn't been before, and she gave the two in her own hands one final tug.

The Agate shouted but the sound disappeared only a second later as she poofed, retreating into her gem, which dropped to the ground before Caddy.

The two of them stared down at it for a long moment before Caddy let out a quiet "Oh my stars."

White nodded slowly.

"Oh my _stars_ , that's what I call teamwork!" Her voice was a little higher pitched than usual with nerves, but she was smiling as she clapped White on the back. "Thanks!"

The other Pearl still seemed rather stunned that it had worked.

Caddy quickly stood up, looking around. "Okay. Uh, what now? How do we get out of here?" She leaned down to get a better look at White. "And are you okay? Did she hurt you?"

"No," White said slowly.

"Oh, good." Caddy let out a small sigh of relief.

"You're hurt."

"Nah, just a little banged up." She frowned as she took in the mostly empty room. "Maybe we _should_ steal a ship."

"We can use her gem," White said suddenly. "To open the door."

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "It's just an identity scan, it won't know if she's really there or not."

"You're sure? Okay, let's go." Caddy held out her hand to help White up. "We're getting out of here."

"We still have to get supplies."

"Screw supplies, we don't have time." She hurried inside the ship and started shoving things out of place, scattering them across the floor. "We'll make it look like somebody ransacked the supplies. Can you help? I'm going to replicate the warp core so it's not the only thing missing."

"Alright," White said, hurrying in after her and helping makes a mess of the items that had been so neatly stacked up in boxes.

Caddy pulled the replicator wand from inside Ory's shawl and the warp core from her gem, quickly making a duplicate of it. The original went straight back into her gem and the copy was thrown to the floor. As she went to help White, she noticed the standard building material that was used to create buildings and rooms. They could use that, right? Sky said Crimson had mentioned something about renovations. Caddy duplicated one of the smaller blocks, then flipped up her shawl and shoved the original into her gem as fast as she could.

White had done a good job of smashing things and wreaking havoc on the ship in the meantime, and Caddy helped topple a few more boxes before grabbing White's arm and pulling her back out of the ship.

"That should be good," she said, grabbing the broken pieces of the device that had been protecting the warp core and throwing them inside with the rest. The ship's doors immediately began closing. "And it'll confuse 'em for a bit. Let's give this to Silver so you guys can take this stuff back."

"Back?"

Caddy tilted her head toward the Agate's gem still lying on the ground. "We don't want her to reform and blab about us. So you and Silver should take her back to base."

"But—"

" _Come on._ " Caddy gave her a gentle push towards the door before scooping up the Agate's gem and shoving it in front of the door panel. There was a small chime as the scan was accepted.

She immediately came face to face with another gem and was prepared to use the weapon still gripped in her hand until she saw who it was.

"Sky?"

"Caddy!" Her arms were around her in an instant, holding on tightly, tears wetting Caddy's shoulder. "Oh, thank the stars, I thought—I thought—"

"Yeah, me too," Caddy said hoarsely, clinging to her.

"What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Cyan was saying something along the same lines in her communicator, but she wasn't paying attention.

"You say after you've squeezed me half to death," Caddy joked unevenly. "I'm okay, I think."

"Good. _Good._ " Sky drew in a ragged breath. "I'm so happy you're safe. Both of you."

Silver clapped her hands loudly, making them jump apart. " _I'm sorry, but you don't have time to talk_ ," Silver projected. " _Are you leaving your Diamonds?_ "

The two of them exchanged a quick look and then shook their heads in unison.

"No, we can stay in service," Caddy said firmly. "At least for a little bit longer."

" _Okay, then you need to get back to them right now and make sure they don't suspect you._ "

"She's right," Sky agreed, immediately hurrying to help Caddy fix her hair and clothes. "Do you have healing tears, Silver?"

" _Right here._ " She passed them over. " _Good job in there, Caddy._ "

"I haven't even told you about it yet," she said with a grin.

" _Well, I know it'll be a cool story later._ " Silver watched as Sky applied the tears quickly to Caddy's gem, then swept some more down her arms and legs to make sure there were no leftover blemishes. " _Okay, you look good. Just give me the core and everything and run._ "

"Got it." Caddy hurried to deposit all the items at Silver's feet, Sky following suit. "Take care of White for us."

"What? I'm coming with—"

" _No, you aren't_ ," Silver projected quickly, grabbing her wrist in a firm but not painful hold. " _Run_ ," she repeated to Caddy and Sky.

The two of them took off, and White pulled halfheartedly away as if to follow.

" _You shouldn't go back_ ," Silver said, getting her attention with a small tug. " _Your code was the last one entered and you're not going to be able to talk your way out of that, not with an Agate missing._ "

"But…"

Silver let go of White, leaving her free to run if she pleased. " _You're not White Diamond's anymore, alright? You don't have to be afraid of her._ "

White didn't move, but she didn't look like she believed her either.

Silver casually knelt to pick up the abandoned items and store them in her gem, picking up the Agate that Caddy had dropped last and keeping it in her palm. " _I've got to get this back to base so somebody can bubble it._ "

The other Pearl nodded slowly.

" _We can figure out the rest later._ "

"Okay," White said uncertainly.

" _Okay_ ," Silver repeated, smiling. She took one step and then waited for White to follow before leading the way down the hall. " _Let's get you home._ "


	39. Chapter 39

**In light of recent events in canon, this is probably a good time for a small reminder that this fic is very canon divergent at this point! In this universe, Rose was only Rose, Pink Diamond is really dead, and Pearl belonged to White Diamond.**

 **As always, thank you so much for reading and enjoying this AU with me!**

* * *

White didn't know what she was doing.

She had followed Silver because it seemed like the only thing she _could_ do, even if it felt wrong to be walking away from her Diamond, from the position that had made her so useful to the rebellion. But if going back was definite shattering, then what could she do?

What was she _supposed_ to do? Just go back to base and figure the rest out later, Silver had said. Why later? Why couldn't she figure it out now? White wasn't used to _later._

Silver put her in charge of updating Cyan via the communicator, and then carrying the Agate's gem, probably realizing it would be good to give her something to focus on. As they walked the tunnels, White trailed a few steps behind her, holding the gem carefully in her palm and staring down at it for a good five minutes before something occurred to her.

"Agates reform fast."

" _What?_ " Silver turned immediately, projecting before she was even facing White and leaving the word hovering between them.

"Agates reform fast," White repeated, holding up the gem. "Really fast."

" _They do? I've never seen one get dissipated, so…_ "

"Yeah," she confirmed with a nod. "Minutes, not days."

Silver took only a second to process her words, then grabbed the gem. " _You don't know how to do the bubble thing, do you?_ "

"No."

" _Me neither. I'm going to run this back to base as fast as I can and then I'll come back for you, okay? Wait right here._ "

"Alright."

" _Don't try and go back._ "

"I won't." She couldn't, not anymore.

Silver gave her a nod, then took off running.

White stood still as she listened to Silver's footsteps disappear farther into the tunnel system. She'd wait, like she'd said.

* * *

" _Crimson!_ " Silver clapped rapidly to get her attention, keeping her hands joined once she'd succeeded.

"Silver?" The red Pearl looked startled by the sudden entrance into the common room. "What's going on? Where's White? Did something happen?"

" _She's okay, but I need this gem bubbled!_ " Silver held up her tightly clasped hands, the Agate pressed between them. " _She already tried to reform once on the way here and I don't know how much longer I'll be able to keep her from coming back._ "

Crimson yelped as Silver tossed her the gem and quickly wedged it between her hands the same way she had. "Well, I don't know how to bubble it!"

" _I thought you'd know where the Crystal Gems are!_ "

"I don't know where they went after we all left the comms room!" She threw the gem back to Silver. "Try their rooms."

" _Oh, wait, there's Yellow_ ," Silver said, rushing to catch the Pearl passing through. " _Yellow, here! Bubble this!_ "

Yellow caught the gem in one hand, wrinkling her nose. "Why do you have an Agate?"

" _She's the one that caught Caddy and White. Can you bubble it?_ "

"I don't know how to do that," she said, mild irritation quickly escalating to panic when the gem began to rise from her hand. She knocked it back in Silver's direction, reaching to her gem to summon.

Silver didn't have time to project anything, just grabbed for the gem and shoved it down to the ground, covering it with both hands.

Yellow waited, expecting the Agate would be able to reform anyway, but that didn't seem to be the case. "You should find Pearl or somebody," she commented.

" _I know, I know. Hold on, I've gotta wait for this to stop._ "

"You're looking for me?"

" _Pearl!_ " Silver twisted around to see the gem approaching them. " _Yes! Can you bubble things?_ "

"…Yes?" she answered slowly. "Why?"

" _Because I don't think we want an Agate running around base?_ "

"Oh. No, definitely not. That's it there?" Pearl immediately knelt on the floor beside her, sharp eyes locked onto Silver's hands.

" _Yeah._ "

"She's trying to reform?"

Silver nodded. " _Stopped now, I think._ "

"Alright, on the count of three, lift up your hands and I'll bubble the gem. Ready?"

" _Ready!_ "

"One, two, _three!_ "

Silver lifted her hands immediately, while Pearl hurriedly placed one of hers just above the Agate to create a bubble.

"Got it!"

" _Yes!_ " Silver projected slightly bigger than usual. " _You're my hero!_ "

"I wasn't already?" Pearl asked lightly, amusement playing on her lips.

" _Now you're even_ more _my hero._ "

"Aha."

"Thank you," Crimson added sincerely. "I think bubbling might be a skill we need to add to our training regimen."

"We can certainly do that," she replied with a smile as she tapped the top of the bubble lightly. "Anyway, there we go, all taken care of."

" _Awesome! I should go back and get White now. Anybody want to come with? She doesn't really have anybody she's close to, so I want to make sure she still feels welcome._ "

"I'll come," Crimson volunteered. "And I'll go let Aura know we're heading out."

" _Thanks._ "

"Where is White?" Pearl asked as Crimson left.

" _Down in the tunnels, I just ran ahead because of the Agate._ "

"Alright. I'd be happy to join you then, if you think she'd want that."

" _Yeah, for sure! Yellow?_ "

"Chroma and I are working on the warp pad, so I should stay," she replied, putting her swords away. "But Pearl, where did that bubble go?"

Pearl froze. "I…don't know. It wouldn't be able to go back to the temple, not over this distance. Excuse me." She ran off in the direction of the Crystal Gems' rooms.

" _What happened?_ " Silver asked, confused.

"The bubble," Yellow said, mimicking the tapping motion. "When they did that on Earth, it would reappear in the temple where they live."

" _Ohhhh._ " Silver stood up, dusting herself off. " _Should we help look for it?_ "

"I suppose we—"

"Um, Yellow?"

She turned at the sound of Steven's voice, then did a double take as she saw him staring up at the bubble Pearl had just created. It was floating about a foot above his head, steadily following him as he approached. Ory was walking alongside him, the pale white and yellow gem watching the bubble nervously.

"Have you seen Pearl?" Steven asked, only averting his eyes from the bubble for a second. "This just kind of appeared, and it looks like one of hers."

"She was just here, she'll probably be back any second." Yellow stared at the bubbled gem curiously. "Is it following you?"

He nodded, taking a couple of steps back and forth to demonstrate. It remained squarely above his head.

"Hmm." Yellow reached for the bubble carefully. "May I?"

"Sure."

She tugged it down, immediately finding she had to keep hold of it securely to stop it from returning to its position above Steven's head. There was nothing wrong with the bubble itself, so she walked backwards with it carefully, seeing what distance would do. When she released it, it glided smoothly towards Steven again, settling into place above him.

"Is it dangerous?" Ory asked.

"No, no!" Steven said quickly. "It's just that they don't usually work like this."

"Oh. W-Well, maybe we could try to outrun it?" she suggested.

"Yeah, let's try that!"

"I don't think that'll…" Yellow trailed off as the two of them dashed down the length of the hallway, then turned and disappeared down another. "I'm just going to get Pearl back here," she decided.

" _Good plan,_ " Silver agreed.

Pearl was already on her way back from her room empty-handed, and she hurried up to Yellow to meet her. "It didn't appear in there, so I'm going to check the rest of the building. Would you mind helping?"

"It's okay, Steven's got it."

"Steven?" She looked relieved. "Oh, alright then. Where did he find it?"

"He didn't, it just appeared and now it's following him."

"Oh. Oh my stars." Pearl's cheeks flushed turquoise. "I suppose that…yes, I see…" She hurried back with Yellow the way she'd come.

As they entered the hallway, they nearly collided with Ory, who was running all out with Steven held in her arms.

"Steven!" Pearl yelped as Ory made a sharp turn. The bubble was still no more than three feet behind them.

Silver saw them coming and easily held out an arm, letting Ory's momentum turn her so they eased to a halt rather than being stopped abruptly. She wobbled a little but managed to keep them all from falling. " _Whoa, okay, gotcha. Good try, but I think you might crack Pearl before you manage to outpace that thing._ "

"S-Sorry," Ory said breathlessly, quickly passing Steven off to Pearl. "I thought it might help."

"It's okay, it was still pretty fun," Steven laughed. "I'm okay, Pearl, I promise."

"I know, you just startled me." She smiled, supporting him with one arm while she lifted her other hand to touch the bubble. It came away easily, allowing her to hold it without attempting to return to its spot. "Though I probably startled you just as badly with this."

"Yeahhh, I wasn't expecting it," he said, smiling. "Who's in there anyway?"

"An Agate that we'll need to decide what to do with," Pearl said, frowning at the gem. "Though I believe that's a discussion for another day."

He nodded. "How come it came to me instead of the temple though?"

"The temple _is_ galaxies away," she answered, embarrassed. "I should have realized that, but it's habit at this point. And with the usual option removed, I suppose it chose another 'home' to go to."

Steven's face lit up. "Me?"

"You."

"Aww!" He squeezed her in a very enthusiastic hug. "You're one hundred percent forgiven for scaring me!"

Pearl laughed a little, blushing. "Sorry. Anyway, I think we can relocate this bubble to our room for the time being; it'll be safe there."

"Alright," Steven agreed. He made no move to jump down, so she just carried him along as she started to walk back down the hall.

"Just give me a few minutes, Silver," she said. "Then I'll be ready to go."

" _Okay! I'm going to run and ask Chroma if she wants to come._ "

"Alright."

"Where are you going?" Steven asked curiously.

"Silver wanted to get a small group together to welcome White back. I thought it would be appropriate for me to go, since…"

"Oh yeah," he said. "You've both run away from White Diamond now."

"Right." Pearl opened the door to the room she shared with Garnet and Amethyst, which was currently empty. "There we are," she said as she gave the bubble a little nudge up towards the ceiling. "Would you mind letting the others know this is here so they aren't surprised?"

"Sure," Steven answered. "But can I go with you first? I want to be part of the welcome party too."

"I'm not sure," she said, hesitating. "It's safest if you stay here."

"But it's just the tunnels, right? Nobody would see me or anything."

"No, I suppose not…" Pearl sighed, looking at his pleading expression. "Alright, yes, you can come with us."

"Yay! Thanks, Pearl!"

"But you have to stay with the group at all times," she warned him.

"I will," he laughed. "That's the whole point of going."

She smiled back. "True. Let's get back to the others."

By the time they did, there was already a small group waiting—Silver, Chroma, Crimson, and even Yellow.

"I thought you were staying," Pearl said.

"I was, but now Chroma's going too, so there's not much point."

"Sorry," Chroma laughed. "Welcoming new Pearls is kind of a tradition. I don't want to miss out if I can help it."

Yellow shrugged, not looking particularly bothered.

"Where's Blue?" Pearl asked curiously.

"Training. She said she'd say hi when we get back."

"Oh, okay." That seemed unusual, but Pearl couldn't fault her for wanting to keep to her schedule. "Are we all ready to go then?"

" _All set_ ," Silver confirmed. " _Let's go!_ "

* * *

 _Is this what it's like for everyone else?_ White wondered. She'd never been without purpose, without some immediate goal in mind. She'd always jumped from one thing to the next, never pausing. If she was with her Diamond, she thought about how she could help the rebellion. If she was helping the rebellion, she thought about how to keep it hidden from her Diamond. Around and around.

And now?

She would help the rebellion still. Help in the way Crimson and Cadmium and everyone else had wanted her to help, but that didn't give her any comfort. She didn't know what they wanted from her, how they could expect her to just stop and exist and settle into a life she had considered only a kind fantasy that other Pearls had created for her.

She was White Diamond's Pearl, and she wasn't meant to live. That was all she knew of herself.

Silver had told her not to run. That was fine, but what was she meant to do instead? This was all so sudden.

White sat down slowly, beginning to understand why the new recruits always seemed so unsure of themselves.

It felt like a long time before Silver got back, and White kept making circles in her own head, trying to figure out where she was meant to go from here. She was glad when she heard quiet voices, familiar ones even though she spent so little time around them.

" _Hi, White!_ " Silver projected, hurrying forward ahead of the others. " _Sorry about leaving you._ "

"It's fine." White allowed her to help her to her feet. "Why did you bring everyone?"

" _It's not_ everyone," Silver replied with a smile. " _Just thought you might like some more friends to come welcome you home._ "

White nodded, looking at the group. Chroma had joined her, of course, as had Yellow, Crimson, Pearl, and Steven.

"We're really glad you're safe," Crimson spoke up.

Steven nodded, running over to give her a hug. "Congratulations!"

What was she supposed to say to that? Any of this?

"Okay," she tried. It probably wasn't the right response, judging by the varying levels of worry and disappointment on everyone's faces.

"Shall we head back?" Chroma asked gently. "You've had a long day, you should probably rest."

Rest?

"Have you tried sleeping before?" Steven asked.

"No." White wouldn't even know what that was if it wasn't for Cadmium always babbling to her about anything new happening on base.

"It might help," Pearl offered. "It's not something I often partake in myself, but I think some of the others have enjoyed their experiments with it so far."

" _Yeah, it's kind of fun!_ "

"It would at least be worth a try," Crimson agreed.

"Sure." White's throat felt tight.

" _For now, we should just take you home, huh?_ " Silver asked, sympathy shining in her eyes. " _Come on._ "

"Sure."

White barely noticed the time it took to follow the little group back to base. None of them really spoke to her aside from saying things like "I'm glad you're safe." Which was good. White didn't know what she was meant to say back. It wasn't like she knew them, not really. Why had Silver felt the need to bring them anyway?

She followed along obediently even if she didn't understand _._

When they got to base, Aura joined them, and she and Chroma and Silver took White aside. They led the way to one of the transient rooms that acted as temporary resting places for Pearls like Sky and Caddy who were still in service.

"I changed the nameplate for you," Aura said softly, pointing.

 _White._

Her name was written there in dainty, curlicue penmanship like all the others.

"Sorry it couldn't be a new room," Chroma added. "We would've, but we're starting to run out of space."

" _If there's anything you need to make it feel more like home, let us know._ "

White nodded blankly.

"You know how to set the passcode?" Chroma checked.

She nodded again.

" _Okay, we'll leave you to it then._ "

They did, though White could feel their eyes on her as she reached to the panel to set herself an entry code. When the door opened, she went inside, closed it again, and stood frozen in place.

What now?

What now, what now, what now?

Everything was unfamiliar. She'd never used this room, or the similar one next door. She'd never had time. Cadmium and Sky, they were the ones who should have gotten the rooms. They were the ones who were going to get the opportunity to leave, to make a home here like Silver said.

Yet somehow it was White here, alone, and they were still with their Diamonds.

It hit her all of a sudden that they shouldn't have gone back. Silver shouldn't have let them go back. White shouldn't have let them.

Her Diamond would be angry. Their Diamonds too, probably.

Sky and Caddy were the ones everyone needed to be worried about, not White. But they'd always been careful, so White hoped…

Something. She didn't know. She'd spent her whole life—what little she'd had of it—trying to keep her distance from them. They only shared a position, that was all.

But they'd fought for her all the same, fought for the freedom she refused to hope for herself. She didn't want them to get shattered for that.

What now?

* * *

They had a plan if things got bad. The plan was mostly "run as fast and as far away as you can" but it still gave Sky some reassurance as they approached the meeting hall.

"Come in with me, Pearl," Blue Diamond said as they approached the doors.

"Yes, my Diamond."

Sky could hear Caddy receiving the same instruction, though Yellow Diamond's voice was brusque, far more rigid. Her own Diamond was certainly not in the best mood either, but Caddy was in more danger than she was.

 _We have a plan._

White Diamond had a tendency to be late, and Sky hoped fervently that she wasn't today. That would just make Yellow Diamond even more angry.

Strangely enough, she seemed to be the first to have arrived, awaiting her two fellow Diamonds with a scowl on her face. "Yellow, was it really necessary to call us here at such short notice?"

"Quite necessary," Yellow Diamond replied.

"I'm _busy._ "

"I'm aware." Her voice was cold. "But it's not as if you didn't see this coming. There were always going to be consequences to your carelessness, White."

" _My_ carelessness?" she repeated, offended. "How have I been careless?"

"Perhaps carelessness was the wrong word. I meant incompetence."

White Diamond's eyes flashed angrily and she stood, stepping closer to Yellow Diamond. "Watch your mouth, Yellow."

"Both of you calm down," Blue Diamond said, laying a hand on each of their shoulders. "We have concerns that must be dealt with, White, surely you understand that."

She clicked her tongue impatiently. "Of course I understand; I don't need you two teaming up against me." She retreated, sitting back down and lifting her chin regally. "I would be dealing with the problem now, had you not called me away."

"Dealing with it how?" Yellow Diamond demanded.

"That's none of your concern."

"It's my concern when you've completely lost control of the gems serving you."

"I have not!"

Blue Diamond cleared her throat. "Losing this amount of Pearls in such a short time is…"

"They're not lost," White Diamond snapped. "The projector Pearls clearly just got stolen by those Citrines, and my own was swayed by that traitorous Agate. It's not as if she could make that mess herself."

"It doesn't matter how it happened," Yellow Diamond argued. "The problem is that it's happening at all."

"I'll put a stop to it."

"Will you? Because gems _will_ begin to notice if you don't, White."

"It's been kept quiet. Surely you don't think me that senseless, do you?"

"You've given me very little reason to believe otherwise lately."

"Well, I'm finished with Pearls now," she said coldly. "I will not get another one. The rest of my court will follow suit. Problem solved."

"Don't be rash. We're not even worried about the Pearls," Blue Diamond said. "We're worried about—"

"You _ought_ to be worried about the Pearls," White Diamond interrupted. "And you have no right to lecture me about them when you're so careless with your own. You need to get rid of them quickly or they get led astray. Need I remind you it was _your_ Pearls that tried to escape?"

"That is an entirely different matter," Yellow Diamond said impatiently.

"You're just deluding yourselves."

A hand suddenly reached for Sky, and she barely had any time to realize what was happening before she was lifted into the air in a too-tight grip.

"Put my Pearl down at once!" Blue Diamond shouted.

"You're far too sentimental about these," White Diamond replied, ignoring the demand. "Even in how you design them…" She wrinkled her nose. "And keeping that last one around for thousands of years was clearly the worst mistake between the three of us."

"I will do what I like with my property! I have never interfered with yours, no matter how much I disagreed with your thoughts on the matter!"

"We've been divided on this subject far too long," she argued. "We ought to present a united front."

"United under _your_ opinion, you mean," Blue Diamond snapped. "Give me my Pearl."

"You can just make another one," White told her, carelessly waving her hand. It was all Sky could do to fight the urge to either cling on or try to fight her way out. Caddy was staring up at her, panicky fear written plainly on her face.

" _Give her to me._ " Blue Diamond repeated.

"Put her Pearl down, White," Yellow said angrily. "You've made your point."

"I haven't, actually."

"Then get to it!"

"My point," she said coolly, continuing to gesture with the hand that was holding Sky, "is that you two are the careless ones here. We ought to get rid of Pearls entirely."

"That's ridiculous!" Blue Diamond shouted, and for once Sky was in total agreement with her. "I will not give up this Pearl or any other just because you are _scared_ of them, White!"

"Oh, don't go acting like I'm the unreasonable one! History has proven they can't be trusted, certainly not for as long as you keep them! They're far too easily convinced to—"

"The problem is not the Pearls, the problem is that gems clearly have no qualms about stealing from you, White." Yellow Diamond reached for White Diamond's wrist in an attempt to get her to put Sky down, but she was pushed away impatiently. "They are losing respect for you!"

"I'm tired of your complaints, Yellow! You're hardly any better than she is!"

"And you're so high and mighty? Might I remind you that it was _your_ Pearl who defected all those millennia ago and—"

"So I know better than anyone how to handle this!"

"You've done nothing to prove it."

"Well, I'm not shattered, am I?"

Oh stars. Oh stars, this was not going to end well. Sky could see Caddy looking up at her anxiously, ready to take action, but Sky shook her head just slightly. _Wait it out. We have to try and wait it out. If we act now, we're shattered for sure._

Heavy silence had settled in the room after White Diamond's words, but she was the only one who seemed not to realize it. "You know I'm right," she continued. "By all means, keep your Pearls." She tossed Sky aside, and she hit the floor hard, barely managing to shield her gem from impact.

"I intend to," Blue Diamond said sharply. "Pearl, stand up. Are you damaged?"

"N-N-No, my Diamond." _Stop stuttering_ , Sky told herself as she pushed herself unevenly to her feet, doing her best not to stumble. _Stay calm. I have to stay calm._ But she could feel herself trembling all the same, afraid of White Diamond's piercing eyes, the way she watched Sky so closely as soon as she spoke.

She wanted to look at Caddy. She wanted to cry. She wanted to start running. But she steeled herself, gave all her attention to her Diamond.

Blue Diamond gazed down at her for a moment, looking for any sign of injury. "Good," she said after a moment. "Go and stand near the wall, out of the way. I have no desire to replace you so soon."

Did she mean that as a comfort? Sky still felt like White Diamond's fingers were going to snap her in two.

"Pathetic," White Diamond muttered as Sky hurried to obey. "You get too attached to things, Blue."

"Yet your own lack of involvement seems to have served you poorly."

"Say that all you want," she snapped. "But don't come crying to me when one of you ends up like Pink!"

" _Enough!_ " Yellow Diamond shouted, and Sky and Caddy both flinched far more than White Diamond did.

"No! It is not _enough!_ " White got up again, snarling as she stood nose to nose with Yellow Diamond. "I am the only one even _trying_ to protect myself after what happened! You and Blue just sit around moping or pretending it never happened. Well, it did! And if we should learn anything from her death, it's that we do not have the leisure to consider ourselves indestructible! You've fallen for the same words you feed your gems in court, and it's disgraceful."

"If anyone is disgraceful here," Yellow Diamond said loudly, "it's the Diamond with the audacity to throw her loss in our faces like some kind of scare tactic to get her way. Look at what you're doing to Blue!"

"I'm not going to spend my time catering to her like you do!" White Diamond retorted, glancing over at Blue Diamond, whose tears had begun flowing rapidly. "I'm not going to back down just because she's crying, for stars' sake. She misses Pink? Fine. But there is far more to be done than grieve, and she'll have to get it through her head eventually."

Before she could even finish, a familiar wave of blue light swept the room, and Sky felt tears flow immediately from her own eyes in an awful sort of relief. She searched out Caddy, who was clutching at her gem as she cried, eyes locked onto Sky's desperately.

This was wrong, this was all wrong. White Diamond could have easily broken Sky, broken Caddy, broken both of them—or convinced the others to do it. She still might, and Sky ached with the awful, awful possibilities.

But at the same time, the crying helped. It was _something_ , some little thing they were granted so that they didn't stumble and let their real emotions show in front of their Diamonds. It was _safe_ crying, even if they had no choice.

"Oh, will you knock it off already, Blue?" White Diamond only seemed frustrated with the tears that sprung to her eyes. "We don't all need to be as miserable as you."

"Leave her alone," Yellow Diamond told her, one hand coming to rest lightly on Blue Diamond's shoulder as she stood partially in front of her. "You have made your opinions clear."

"I doubt it," she scoffed. "We'll meet tomorrow and it will all be back to usual, everything will be fine, and you can keep on pretending I'm the—"

"White, _get out._ "

"I'm not leaving on my own. Aren't you worried how _that_ will look to our courts?"

"Then shut up until Blue is finished. We don't need to hear any more of your nonsense. Get your gems under control and stop trying to shift the blame."

"I am not—"

"We're finished talking."

"Of course we are." White Diamond narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Do as you please."

Somehow, somehow, it seemed like they'd gotten through the worst of it, Sky thought. The tears were still coming out strong, the wave of emotion not yet fading, but the room's atmosphere settled into tense silence rather than shouted words and big gestures and…

Well, White Diamond was still looking at her and Caddy suspiciously, but at least she wasn't grabbing for them. That was something.

Something in a world of nothing, nothing, nothing, and Sky was scared that next time they wouldn't be so lucky.

 _I want to go home._


	40. Chapter 40

It had been over a week since the mission, and Crimson was getting antsy. She knew it would be a terrible idea to risk going to see Sky and Caddy right now, but she _wanted_ to. All the rebellion knew was that they were alive; no one had been able to get close and neither of the Diamonds' Pearls were chancing a trip to base. That said something in and of itself.

They'd just have to keep waiting.

Almost as worrisome was the fact that they didn't know how the Diamonds had reacted, hadn't seen any signs of how White Diamond was dealing with the "attempted theft." News had spread like wildfire that she'd gotten rid of her Pearl, decided not to replace her, and that was drowning out any other rumors circling around.

Crimson had stayed close to home since then, exercising caution when she went out but refusing to stop altogether, even though she knew it worried Silver. Somebody needed to go out to talk to other Pearls and gather information—the latter especially important when their two best informants weren't able to act.

"Hi, Crimson," Aura greeted her, poking her head out from the infirmary. She always seemed to find an excuse to be there when Crimson was due back so that she could hear the door opening. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, all good. Hi." She smiled as best she could, shapeshifting off the old clothes she put on for her trips out. "Anything happen while I was away?"

"No, sorry," she replied, understanding the real question being asked.

"Okay," Crimson sighed. "Do you know where Silver is?"

"In the common room, prepping for training the new recruits. Chroma's there too."

"Great, thank you. And how are your patients?"

"Tin's left as of this morning, though we're going to keep giving her treatments to be safe."

"Makes sense. Thanks for looking after her, you've been doing a great job."

"Oh, no, anybody can do that kind of thing," Aura laughed self-consciously. "I'm just glad we have the healing tears."

"Well, I'm sure the bedside manner helps," Crimson replied with a smile. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"See you."

Crimson made her way into the common room, immediately locating Silver and heading over to her. The other gem was lying on the ground, sprawled out comfortably beside Chroma, who was working on what must have been part of the warp pad. "Hey," Crimson greeted them. "I'm back."

" _Welcome home._ " Silver looked relieved to see her.

"Good to see you," Chroma said simultaneously.

"Thanks. Aura says nothing exciting happened while I was gone?"

"Not a thing."

" _Well, the projector Pearls are starting training today, so Cyan and I have been working on that_ ," Silver said. " _I also need to stop calling them projector Pearls, it doesn't feel like a very nice way to say it. The new recruits._ "

"Then you just run into the problem of what to call them once we get _new_ new recruits," Crimson agreed with a smile.

" _Speaking of problems…_ "

"Oh no."

" _No, not a new one. I just wanted to know if we had a plan for the Agate?_ "

"I've talked to Pearl and Cyan to get their opinions. Considering she used to be one of White Diamond's favorites, it seems too dangerous to let her out right now. Maybe when we're better equipped to handle whatever happens…"

" _Yeah, I kind of figured. So I was thinking maybe we should set a room aside just for that? I mean, I doubt the Crystal Gems really want her floating around their room all the time._ "

"Fair point," Crimson conceded. "Where were you thinking?"

"There's the room next to the forge," Chroma said. "Azalea said she doesn't need it, so we were thinking we could make it more secure and use that."

"Oh, you mean the one behind my room?"

"Yeah, if that's okay."

"I don't see any problem with it. Go right ahead."

" _Thanks. Oh!_ " Silver perked up suddenly, waving energetically over Crimson's shoulder.

She twisted around, a smile finding its way to her face as soon as she laid eyes on the yellow Pearl in the doorway.

"Um, hey."

"Caddy!" Crimson jumped up. "Thank the stars you're safe. Both of you!" She caught sight of Sky peeking tentatively around Caddy. "Are you alright? Come here."

Sky was rushing into Crimson's arms in an instant, clinging on tight.

"Sky," she breathed, hands coming up to hold her. "You're home."

"It's been awful," she whispered, trembling as her cheek pressed to Crimson's non-gem shoulder.

"Yeah," she murmured. Then, a little louder, she added, "Caddy, you too."

"Me?"

"You, Cadmium. I've missed you too."

Caddy brightened a little, quick to join in and make it a small group hug. "Must have been quiet without me, huh?"

"Unbearably," Crimson said with a smirk.

"Thought so." Her voice was light but she was holding herself far more rigidly than she usually did, more akin to Yellow's posture. "Thanks, boss," she said quietly after a few moments.

"Mm-hm." She squeezed both of them tight before letting go. "Are you here for long? Do you have time to sit down?"

"We have a little while, but we shouldn't push it," Sky answered, swiping at her eyes even though no tears had spilled over. "We should probably give you the new information first and then—"

"Don't worry about that today," Crimson interrupted. "Or, no, that's rather irresponsible to say. If there's something important, tell us. If not, you should just sit down and try to relax."

"I…I don't think there's anything urgent," she said slowly.

"As long as you're not planning anything big in the central area, you're fine," Caddy agreed. "If you are, then…maybe don't. Things are a mess."

"We weren't. We have a few plans in the works, but nothing that would happen right away. Here, grab a seat." Crimson threw a few extra pillows together for them, all identical replicas.

"Thanks."

Caddy and Sky settled in amongst the cushions, and Crimson wondered how long it had been since they'd been able to indulge in real, friendly physical contact. They seemed anxious to hold onto each other in some way or another.

"Can I ask what…?" Crimson trailed off uncertainly.

"We'd rather not talk about it right now, if that's okay," Sky whispered.

"Oh. Yeah, of course. I'm sorry."

"We're okay though," she added quickly. "We're…We're just having to be really careful right now. That's why we didn't come sooner."

Crimson nodded. "I figured that was it. But you're going back?"

"I think we need to, for now," Caddy said. "White Diamond's being…scary. If we disappeared right now, I don't know what would happen. We decided to wait until we've got, you know, a better time to do it. Maybe if she goes off-world for a little while. Or something."

"I guess that makes sense. I just worry." She looked between the two of them.

"We'll be okay," Sky reassured her again. "I mean, not _okay_ , but…we've been working hard to make sure our Diamonds trust us, so we're safe for now."

"I'm sure you've both done great." Crimson reached over to squeeze her hand briefly. "Things will settle down soon."

"I hope so."

"Has White been okay?" Caddy asked suddenly.

"I think she's still processing."

"Ah."

"She's in the room next to the one you two share, if you want to visit."

"I'm not sure we have time for that right now," Sky said, looking more at Caddy than Crimson.

"Yeah," Caddy agreed reluctantly. "We'd be rushing in and out, and that wouldn't be too great. Next time, I guess, when things calm down."

"Sounds like a plan," Crimson said gently. "I'll tell her you say hi?"

"Yeah, thanks, boss."

"No problem. Is there anything else I can do for you while you're here?"

"Nah, I think we'd be happy just hanging out here for a few minutes."

Sky nodded. "It's really nice to be back."

"Yeah, you got it."

"So what's been happening 'round here?" Caddy asked, trying to keep her voice light and airy.

"Well…I'd say 'the usual' but I'm not sure we _have_ a usual exactly." Crimson smiled. "We have new recruits starting training today, and the warp pad is coming along nicely, and we've been keeping a low profile outside."

"I'm so jealous, I want to train," Caddy complained.

"She summoned," Sky added excitedly, brightening up. "Did White tell you?"

"No, she didn't," Crimson said, eyes going wide. " _That's_ how you dissipated the Agate?"

"Yep," she said proudly. "I can't believe she didn't tell you how cool it was! I mean, at the time it didn't feel very cool because have you _seen_ Agates? I thought she was going to squash me! But it was really cool to think about once everything started to calm down!"

"That's amazing," Crimson exclaimed. "Any chance I can see?"

"Yeah, I haven't had a chance to see either," Sky said, tugging at Caddy's arm.

"Okay, okay, I'll try! I don't know if I can do it on command." She reached to her gem and made a show of concentrating deeply. "Mm… Maybe not," she muttered after a moment.

"That's okay," Crimson reassured her. "It probably takes time to figure it out when you're not in a life-threatening situation."

"Oh, great idea! You want to shapeshift into an Agate for me? Maybe we can recreate the moment!"

"Let's not," she laughed.

"Fiiine," she sighed, and instead lit up her gem to project an image of her weapons. "They're like this. Nice and pointy, and they can spin!"

"I understand White's 'very stabby' description of you now," Crimson laughed.

Caddy beamed. "So she _did_ mention me!"

"Is that a compliment?" Sky asked skeptically.

"It is when being very stabby helped rescue her!"

"I guess." She smiled. "They look really cool. I can't wait to see them in person."

"Me too," Crimson agreed.

"Thanks!" Caddy hummed happily as she turned off the projection and leaned back into the cushions to get comfortable, her legs crossed leisurely at the ankle and shoulders beginning to relax.

No sooner had she gone still than Pearl and Amethyst came into the common room and caught sight of them.

"Oh, you're back!" Pearl exclaimed, coming over. "It's good to see you."

"Thanks," Sky said shyly. "You too."

"Yeah, we missed you guys!" Amethyst said. "Steven's been all worried about ya."

"He has? We…We haven't really talked to him very much before."

"I talked to him once!" Caddy volunteered. "He gave me something called a crayon that had my name on it!"

"Did he show you how to draw with it?" Pearl asked.

"Yep! I really like it."

"She tried to draw on me," Sky added, "but it didn't really take."

"Yeah, not to skin," Caddy said with a nod. "So I just drew on one of the papers Steven gave me and then stuck it on!"

She laughed a little. "Yeah. Anyway, Steven seems very nice. I'm sorry we worried him. And everyone."

"No, no, you don't need to apologize," Pearl said hastily. "This situation with the Diamonds certainly isn't your fault."

"Well…" Caddy began with a small smile. "It kind of was."

"You know what I mean, Cadmium."

She laughed. "I do. And I can tell _somebody's_ been spending too much time with Crimson."

"She has not!" Crimson protested. "Well, yes, I suppose we've talked, but it's not like I'm the only one who calls you by your full name!"

"You're the only one who does it in that tone of voice," she teased.

"What about Sky?"

"Sky's more like…" Caddy cleared her throat, shapeshifting her hair to Sky's. "Cadmi _um!_ "

Sky giggled.

She smiled, shifting Crimson's hair on next. "Versus _Cad_ mium. It's totally different."

"If you say so," Crimson laughed.

"I'm going to say it differently just to confuse you next time," Sky said lightly.

"Don't, your way is cutest!" She slung an arm around her before turning her attention back to Pearl and Amethyst. "You two want to stick around? We could use some company."

"We can take a few minutes," Pearl said agreeably.

"That's probably all we've got anyway! We're just having a quick recharge before we go back."

"Man, you guys must be busy," Amethyst commented. "Even on normal days, it seems like you spend all your time running back and forth."

"We…sort of do," Sky laughed quietly. "But we don't mind that part."

"Yeah, gotta get exercise in since we aren't at training very often," Caddy said.

"Oh yeah, I guess you aren't."

"But we're happy as long as we can come here together," Sky said warmly.

"Yeah, that's the important thing!" Caddy agreed.

"It does make a difference, knowing you have someone," Pearl agreed with a nostalgic smile.

Amethyst grinned. "Uh huh. Speaking of, is it some kinda tradition that Yellow D's Pearl and Blue D's Pearl fall in love, or was that just coincidence?"

"Fall in love?" Sky asked blankly. "Us?"

"Oh, yes, _deeply_ in love," Caddy said, turning sideways before pretending to swoon and then falling back gracefully to be caught by Sky's hurriedly outstretched arms. "I long for the moments I get to be in your embrace, my dearest."

"The mere thought of being close to you sustains me," Sky replied, a small smile playing on her lips. "When shall we truly be able to be together?"

"Soon, my love, soon we shall run and be free to love as we desire."

"Can we risk so much?"

"We must! I would risk a thousand harms if it meant your freedom. But if your feelings have wavered…"

"Never, my lovely Cadmium. Though I shatter at the thought of our affair causing you even one of those harms."

"I am the same, but we must be strong. The chance of spending our lives together is worth it, is it not?"

"Of course it is. My gem aches with boundless passion for such a day that we might be as one."

Caddy snorted, giving up the act as she dissolved into laughter. "Oh my stars, _boundless passion?_ Really?"

Sky's face flushed a deep blue. "I was running out of things to say!"

"You're the best," she declared. "I didn't know if you'd play along."

"It was too good an opportunity," she returned happily. "Now can you please get up? This isn't very comfortable."

"Aww, fine." Caddy took Sky's shoulder and righted herself.

"To answer the original question," Sky said, smoothing out her sleeves, "no."

"Yeah, sorry to disappoint. You'll have to look to the other two for the gooey romantic scenes." Caddy sighed dramatically. "Alas, my affections lie elsewhere."

"Yeah, I'm not her type," Sky laughed, knocking a hand lightly against Caddy's gem.

"And vice versa," she agreed, ruffling Sky's hair. "That was fun. I always have to dip you for our duets; it's nice to switch it up."

"Definitely."

Crimson and Amethyst were laughing as they settled back into place, and Pearl had a hand to her mouth in a futile attempt to stifle her own amusement.

"Yeah," Amethyst said once she caught her breath, "I take it back. You two are definitely different from our two."

"Thanks," Caddy said, her own smile softening to something quieter but no less genuine. "We'd like to be our own gems."

"You are already," Pearl and Crimson said simultaneously, then looked at each other in surprise.

Sky beamed, her happiness and amusement radiant in combination. "Yeah, I think Caddy might have been right about you two."

* * *

"I'm glad they're safe," Blue murmured, looking on as Sky and Caddy talked to the others.

"Mm-hm." Yellow glanced up from the tablet she was using. "Are they staying now?"

"I don't know." She let her head fall lightly onto Yellow's shoulder. "Do you want to go talk to them?"

"Not right now. It's not like we're friends." The words came out a little harsher than Yellow intended. "I meant they probably want to spend time with the Pearls they're closer to. Crimson and White and…whoever else. I don't know."

"Pearl's over there."

"Pearl is Pearl."

"Fair enough." Blue smiled. "So, um, I was thinking about going to the new recruits' training today, just as a show of support. Would you like to come?"

There was a hopeful sparkle in her eyes, and Yellow would have found it hard not to indulge her even if she'd wanted to refuse. "Yeah, I can do that," she said. "You've been talking to them?"

"Oh, no, not really. I mean, I said hello." She looked oddly uncomfortable. "I just thought it might be a nice way to get to know some more Pearls."

"Sure." Yellow hesitated. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"You. Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Yellow frowned at her. "You've seemed…"

Blue tilted her head, waiting.

"Never mind. Just make sure you're taking care of yourself."

"I will."

"Okay." Yellow stretched, getting to her feet. "Let's go then."

She wasn't surprised that the newer Pearls had all arrived even earlier than they had, most looking nervous and jumpy, especially when she and Blue walked in and took a seat on the bench beside theirs. Blue seemed to be contemplating going over to say something, but before she got a chance, one came over to join them.

"Hi!" she announced herself cheerily. She was similar in complexion to Yellow, but with striking caramel-colored hair and clothes. "I'm Tin. You're Blue and Yellow, right?"

"Um, yes. You said Tin?"

"That's right." She smiled. "It's nice to meet you. Is it okay if I sit here?"

"Sure." Yellow picked up her things from the bench to make space for her.

"Nice to meet you too," Blue added. "Are you just watching today?"

"Mm-hm. Silver said I should go slow, just in case, so she's going to give me a private lesson later. I'm just here to cheer Mercury on!" Tin waved happily to someone on the next bench over.

Yellow opened her mouth to ask who Mercury was, but when her eyes followed Tin's, she found a near-identical Pearl sitting there and had to do a double-take. "Ah."

"You were in service together, right?" Blue asked. "Under two Topazes?"

Tin's smile faded just slightly. "Yeah, that's us."

"You're the ones who've been in the infirmary," Yellow realized. "You're all healed now?"

"Well, Aura's holding out hope there's more to be done, but I'm pretty sure I'm officially cracked."

"You're…?"

Tin turned her head, pointing to the gem nestled in her short, sharp curls.

Yellow and Blue both let out an involuntary gasp at the sight of the chip taken out of the center of Tin's gem.

"Sorry," Blue said quickly. "It just looks painful."

"It was," Tin said easily, smiling. "It's better now though."

"I didn't know you could be cracked without it…" Yellow gestured vaguely at Tin's form.

"Being glitchy?"

"Yeah."

"I think it is, actually, it's just not things you can see." She shrugged. "I'm still figuring it out myself."

"Oh."

Just then, Silver came in and clapped her hands loudly to get everyone's attention, even though no one aside from Blue, Yellow, and Tin had been speaking in anything more than a whisper. " _Okay, everyone, we're ready to start! Cyan's going to talk first, and then she'll turn you over to me so we can get started on your training. Sound good?_ "

The new recruits nodded nervously.

" _All yours then_ ," Silver said, gesturing for Cyan to go ahead as she grabbed a seat on the other side of Blue.

"Thanks." Cyan moved to stand at the center of the room. "Hi, everyone. It's great to have you here. My name is Cyan and I'm the rebellion's tactician, so I'm sure we'll see a lot of each other no matter what job you choose." She paused. "I'd like to get to know each of you, so why don't we start by having you tell me your names? If you're not sure or if you don't have one yet, you can just say 'Pass' and it'll be the next gem's turn. Silver, would you mind starting us off over there?"

" _Sure! I'm Silver._ "

"Blue."

"Yellow."

"Tin."

"Mercury."

"Um, p-pass?"

"Pass!"

"Pass."

"Pass…"

"Pass."

"Pass?"

"Pass."

"Pass."

"Perfect, thank you," Cyan said warmly. "There's no rush, just tell me whenever you've made your choice. And raise your hands if you've been on a tour of the base already?"

Everyone's hands went up.

"Okay, just checking. Let's get started talking about what we do then…"

"So why are you guys here?" Tin whispered as Cyan began explaining. "You've been with the rebellion a while, right?"

"A little while," Blue agreed. "But I wanted to see what this was like."

"That's cool." Tin fidgeted a bit. "Can I see your projections?"

"Right now?"

She nodded eagerly. "Please?"

"Well…" Blue glanced over at Cyan. "I think it might be a little distracting, so maybe once they finish talking?"

"Oh, yeah, good plan," Tin said easily. "Thanks."

"Shouldn't you be listening?" Yellow pointed out.

"Nah, we heard this part already, just from somebody else. But I told Mercury she should come to it anyway so she can get to know the gems she'll be training with. She was nervous."

Yellow looked over at the other Pearl skeptically, taking in her composed posture. "Not compared to the rest of them."

Tin laughed. "Her own kind of nervous, I suppose." She waved to Mercury again.

"Tin, I'm three feet away," Mercury whispered, leaning across the gap between the two benches. "You don't need to wave."

"I know, but I want to."

Mercury clicked her tongue quietly but didn't quite manage to look exasperated when she saw Tin's smile.

"Hi," Blue offered, leaning around to wave at Mercury as well.

"Hi." Her eyes sharpened as they swept over Blue and Yellow in turn.

"Hi," Yellow added belatedly, feeling it was rather unnecessary at that point, but Mercury nodded in acknowledgement.

"I think we should pay attention," Blue whispered. "We're being distracting. Maybe we can talk later, Mercury?"

"Sure," she answered warily, turning her attention back to Cyan.

The blue gem was still working her way through basic information about the rebellion, eye occasionally darting to Blue but seeming unbothered by their conversation. "And if you have questions about any of that, you're always welcome to ask me or Crimson or any other Pearl. Everyone here will do their best to help you settle in."

Yellow's attention drifted again, though she kept her eyes on Cyan. She'd been putting almost all of her focus into working on the warp pad, and she wondered if that was why Blue seemed a bit distant as of late. She hadn't been coming to watch Yellow work as much as she had on Earth, and Yellow found herself missing the small interruptions. Not that there _weren't_ interruptions, considering the wide variety of Pearls who came to visit Chroma, Lavender, and Pearl, but it was different.

Blue had her own skill set and her own things to do though, so it made sense that she wouldn't be around as often. Maybe once the warp pad was finished and Yellow wasn't so busy, they'd be able to go spend some time together on Earth. She was growing to like the atmosphere on base, but there were days she missed the peace and quiet.

That was still a little way out though, so there was no point dwelling on the plans now. If Blue wanted to use this training as an excuse to spend more time together, Yellow didn't mind. She reached out to take Blue's hand discreetly—though there was no real way to be discreet with Tin right beside them and Cyan in front—and was pleased to see the smile that lit up Blue's eyes.

Yellow almost lost track of time after that and before she knew it, Cyan seemed to be wrapping up her talk. _Good_ , she thought. _The actual training will be more interesting to see._

"And before we finish," Cyan was saying, "I'd just like to add that I hope you'll all feel comfortable to come and talk to me about anything you might need. I know it feels weird to have a conversation about a decision instead of someone just making it without asking you, but it's actually a very important part of the process. The more I know about you as individuals, the better I'll be at finding roles that will make the best use of your skills. Does that make sense?" She made sure to look at each Pearl in the group for confirmation, waiting for each of them to nod. "Okay, thank you. I honor your service."

Seeing her hand move to salute, Yellow and Blue began to do the same in return, only to be taken aback when Cyan outright punched herself in the eye—or at least where the new recruits must have supposed her eye was hidden under her hair.

There was a scattering of startled gasps from the other Pearls, Mercury the only one not to react. Tin, on the other hand, burst immediately into laughter.

Cyan grinned, flipping her bangs up briefly to show them her gem. "Kidding."

The new recruits exchanged quick looks, then giggled a little, the sound nervous and breathy.

Cyan looked remarkably pleased with herself as she surveyed the reaction, though her gaze caught on Mercury for a moment before skipping back over to Blue. "Anyway, that's all I had for you, so Silver can take it from here!"

" _Thanks, Cyan._ " Silver stood up. " _Okay, can everybody come over one by one? I'm just going to ask each of you a few questions individually so I can get a better idea of where to start. The rest of you are free to look around._ " She smiled, beckoning to the Pearl on the farthest end of the bench. " _You want to go first?_ "

"Um, okay," she agreed, blushing a little as she walked over to Silver.

The rest of the Pearls took the opportunity to get up and wander the room with wide eyes, while Mercury turned slightly toward Tin. Before she could say anything though, Cyan spoke up.

"You feeling okay, Mercury?"

Mercury jumped, startled to be addressed on her own. "Yes, why?"

"Well, Tin seemed to like my joke, but you just sat there."

She raised her eyebrows. "I'm not Tin. Also, it's kind of obvious you have an eye gem, so…" The _it wasn't that funny_ was clearly implied, though Mercury didn't say it.

"I see."

Mercury stared back at her impassively.

"Still nothing?" she asked, disappointed. "Alright, well, you better catch up with the others."

She nodded, getting up immediately to join the rest of the recruits and Silver.

"Tough audience, huh?" Cyan said conversationally, one hand on her hip as she turned to Tin.

"Actually, she's a really good audience," Tin said earnestly.

"You know, if I hadn't seen you laughing just now, I would think you're trying to say my humor's no good," she said, smiling.

"Never!" Tin waved her hands airily. "She just takes a while to warm up to people. I'm sure she'll laugh at you eventually!"

"Thanks, I think," Cyan chuckled.

"You're welcome." Tin paused. "Cyan, right?" she asked, more seriously.

"That's right."

"Okay," she said with a smile. "Is it okay if I keep coming to training and stuff, Cyan? I'm not quite ready to join in yet, but I want to be as prepared as I can."

"Yes, of course, you're welcome anytime. I'll probably come sit over here myself sometimes so I can observe, so you won't lack for company either."

"Okay, thanks!"

"I think Silver was talking about putting together a light exercise regimen for you, so you can talk to her about that when you're ready."

"Yeah, she told me! I will, definitely."

"Good. I look forward to working with you then." Cyan gave her a warm smile before turning her attention to Blue and Yellow. "If there's any suggestions you want to make, I'd be really happy to hear them."

"Oh, no, we just wanted to watch," Blue said. "You did a great job."

"Thanks!"

"Are there any missions coming up where you might need us?" she asked hopefully.

"Hmm…" Cyan considered it. "There's a few maybes, but nothing for sure yet."

"Oh, okay."

"I'll let you know as soon as I've got something!" she reassured her.

"Thanks." Blue smiled. "Anyway, don't let us keep you."

"No, no, it's fine, it's always a pleasure to talk to you." Cyan paused. "Though I guess I should go make the rounds and introduce myself one-on-one. Feel free to stay as long as you like."

"Thank you."

It wasn't long before Silver and Cyan had talked to everyone—short conversations, presumably to keep them less intimidating—and all the new recruits got into place to do some basic exercises and get used to the feel of holding one of the practice swords.

Blue smiled as she watched a few of the more daring Pearls try to swing the weapons, their stance and grip wobbly. "Were we like that at first, I wonder?" she asked Yellow.

"We were probably worse."

They exchanged a smile, and Blue giggled as she leaned in to place a tiny kiss on Yellow's lips. "Well, I'm glad we get to keep improving together."

"Me too."


	41. Chapter 41

On her next trip to the base, Caddy only had one goal in mind.

"Hey, Chroma, you seen White?" she asked, poking her head into the common room to talk to the nearest Pearl.

"Oh, Caddy! No, I haven't, sorry."

"Darn. Yellow? Lavender? Pearl?" she tried.

All three of them shook their heads.

"But we've been in here most of today, so…" Lavender trailed off.

"I haven't seen her since she came back from your mission," Yellow volunteered. "Never mind today."

"I'm afraid the same goes for me," Pearl said. "I think she's been in her room."

"Oh." Caddy wilted a bit. "This whole time?"

"Whenever I've tried to talk to her, at least."

"Oh," she repeated. Then she quickly smiled again. "Alright, well, thanks for letting me know!"

She felt unsettled as she walked away, but she didn't want to dwell on it. Maybe White was just being shy. Not that White was a shy gem, but she'd just been thrown together with a bunch of gems she'd never lived with before, so…

"Crimson!" she called, going straight to their leader's office. Nope, not there. Caddy skipped back off in the direction of the training room. "Crimson?" she asked as she came in.

Silver smiled, lifting a hand in greeting and then pointing her thumb over her shoulder.

"Over here!" Crimson was leaning against the far wall, her partially undone ponytail a testament to the practice they must have just finished. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Caddy said quickly. "Just saying hi. And I was hoping you might could tell me where White is?"

"She should be in her room," Crimson replied, beginning to look worried. "Was she not there?"

"No, I haven't checked yet, I just—" Caddy hesitated. "It seems like nobody's talked to her. Is that true?"

"It is, though not for lack of trying," she sighed. She shapeshifted her hair back into place so smoothly Caddy nearly missed it, and then dusted off her shorts. "She'll answer the door, but doesn't say much, and she hasn't said yes to any invitations to do something outside her room."

She nodded, frowning.

"I don't know whether it's best to leave her or…" Crimson shook her head. "I really think it might be good for her to get to know her new home, but I can't force her to leave her room if she's not ready. Maybe she'd be a little more responsive if you were the one that asked her."

"I'm gonna try," Caddy said determinedly.

"Thanks. Caddy?" she asked as the yellow Pearl moved to leave.

"Yeah?"

"You and Sky are still holding up okay?"

"Yep, we're alright."

"Okay. Be safe."

"You got it, boss."

* * *

It was easy to find White's newly designated room, and Caddy knocked out a chipper rhythm on the door. "Whiiiite!"

It only took about five seconds for the door to slide open. "Yes?" White asked.

She looked unchanged from the last time Caddy had seen her, still in her spiky Diamond-chosen outfit that always looked like it'd be uncomfortable. Her expression was unreadable as she stared back at Caddy, waiting for her to explain what she was doing there.

Well, it was better than looking upset, Caddy thought. "Can I come in?" she asked.

"What for?"

"Just to talk."

"About what?"

"It's top secret, you have to let me in before I can tell you!"

White narrowed her eyes. "You're just messing around," she decided, reaching to close the door.

"No, no, no, wait!" Caddy stuck her hand in the way so the door couldn't activate. "I really do want to talk to you. About something important. Can I please come in?"

"…Sure." White stepped aside, watching Caddy enter before closing the door. "Did Crimson send you?"

"Nope, I sent me." She glanced around, not surprised to find the room exactly as White would have received it. "What've you been doing in here?"

She shrugged.

"No, seriously. There's _nothing._ Aren't you bored?"

"Yes."

"So why don't you go hang out in the common room or something?"

"There's nothing to do there either," White muttered, sitting down on the very corner of her bed.

"Oh, c'mon, there's loads to do!"

She didn't answer, just kept her eyes glued to the floor.

"What are you sulking about?" Caddy demanded, getting a little impatient.

"I'm not sulking," White said. "I don't have anything to do."

"So _make_ something to do." Caddy crossed her arms, hip cocked. "You're being such a pebble about this, White. You're _free._ You can do whatever you want."

She shook her head.

"Yes, you can," she insisted.

"I wasn't supposed to be free!" White burst out. "I wasn't—You weren't supposed to help me!"

"Then what did you want me to do?"

"I don't know. I was supposed to get shattered!"

Caddy marched over and swept White's bangs up out of her face with one hand. She squinted at her, only a few inches away.

"What are you doing?" she asked tiredly.

"Counting how many eyes you've got," Caddy replied. "One, two. Yep. Not a Sapphire. Zero future vision." She poked at White's gem none too gently, making her wince. "You're alive. Stop feeling sorry for yourself."

"I'm not—"

"You _are._ "

White faltered, pushing Caddy's hand away. "I don't want to do this right now."

"What _do_ you want?" Caddy snapped, all humor gone from her voice. "To go running back to your Diamond? Is that easier?"

The words hit White hard, and her fists curled tight around the uneven hem of her skirt. Her eyes felt hot, tears gathering and falling before she could even recognize what they were.

Caddy took a step forward, and then back, looking scared. "I—White, I didn't mean—"

She shook her head, covering her face with trembling hands. "I don't want to go back," she whispered.

"I know. I know, I'm sorry."

"Everything's confusing. You keep asking what I want, but I didn't want anything. I couldn't. I don't know."

"White…" She reached out tentatively, dropping to her knees before her as her fingers grazed White's arm. "White, I'm sorry. Of course you're—of course it's different than what you expected."

"No, you're right," she whispered. "I'm being a pebble. I'm _pathetic._ "

"You're not pathetic," Caddy said desperately. She got up again, wrapped an arm around White's shoulders, and squeezed tight. "No one thinks you're pathetic. I was just trying to snap you out of this. You're not acting like _you_ anymore."

"That's because I don't know what to act like!" White dropped her hands from her face and smacked them into the sheets. "I don't _know!_ I have no idea what to expect!"

"The unexpected?" she tried, unable to hit the lighthearted note she was aiming for.

"I'm better at dying than I am at living," she said brokenly.

"Are you kidding me, White?" Caddy let go of her and sat down, turning White's face gently before placing a palm over her gem. "You're _great_ at living. You live more in a day than most Pearls do in a lifetime. You're just used to working with a deadline." She paused. "Stars, that's some of my worst wordplay yet and I wasn't even trying."

White choked out a faint laugh, leaning into her touch minutely. "Cadmium…"

" _Caddy._ "

"Yes, alright." She sighed, letting her eyes slip shut. "I'm sorry if I seemed ungrateful," she said softly. "You have every right to be angry with me."

"I'm not angry with you," the other Pearl responded, eyebrow raising in surprise as she lowered her hand. "I thought _you_ were angry at _me._ "

"Why would I be angry?" She looked up at Caddy, shocked. "You saved my life."

"Well, you didn't seem too happy about it," she muttered, shoulders hunching a little. "Holing up in here and not talking to anybody."

"It's a lot to get used to."

"So…you _don't_ hate me?"

"Of course not. Where did you get that idea?"

Caddy chewed at her lip, shrugging.

"Well, I don't." White's hand twitched like she wanted to reach out but stopped herself. "I'm sorry, Cadmium."

"It's Caddy," she corrected automatically, voice dull. "But thanks."

She sighed. "That really bothers you? It's the name you chose."

"The name doesn't bother me, _you_ bother me," Caddy muttered, pulling at the tops of her thigh highs with a frown.

"Why?"

"Don't worry about it," she said quietly.

" _Why?_ " White repeated stubbornly.

"Because all you ever do is keep your distance!" she burst out. "No matter how many times I correct you, no matter how much I want to be friends with you, no matter what I say I'm always just _Cadmium_ , just _Yellow Diamond's Pearl_ , and that's all that matters to you!" The fiery words left her just as quickly as they'd come. "I know I'm not anything special. I just wanted to be there if you ever needed anyone."

Not for the first time since her rescue, White was at a total loss for what to do. She just _didn't know._ She'd never had to have this kind of conversation with anyone, much less Caddy. "That's wrong," were the first words to slip from her mouth, though she knew immediately they weren't the right ones. "That's… No." She pressed her palm to her forehead, closing her eyes briefly. "I kept my distance on purpose," she said finally. "It wasn't because I _wanted_ to, and it's certainly not due to any failure on your part."

Caddy remained silent, not looking at her.

"You've always mattered to me," she admitted. "You—plural you—you and Sky and everyone…" She drew in a shaky breath, feeling tears threaten again and fighting them back. "I just didn't want to get attached. I didn't—I didn't want to have anything to lose." White shook her head. "I'm not nearly as good at that as I thought I was."

"Oh," she murmured.

"And yes, at the beginning I called you Cadmium because it was easier. But then it just got to be routine—the back-and-forth we always do, I mean—and I guess I got attached to that instead." She swiped a hand across her eyes. "I didn't know it bothered you. I'm sorry." Guilt gnawed at her chest, and she pressed her lips together, not wanting to say any more.

A hysterical laugh was wrenched out of Caddy's throat. "You've got to be kidding me," she said in a strained voice. "I've been agonizing over this forever and I—you—"

"Sorry."

"You're the _worst_ , White."

"Sorry," she repeated almost inaudibly.

"Oh. Oh, stars, no, I didn't mean to make you cry again." Caddy grabbed for her hand inelegantly.

"I didn't mean for you to think I hated you or—"

"I know," she interrupted. "I get it now."

"I _don't_ hate you. I don't think you're 'just' anything. I'm—I'm bad at this. I thought it was just for fun. I always liked talking to you, even when I was trying to convince myself I didn't."

"It's okay," Caddy said. "It's okay, White, shh." She squeezed her hand firmly.

She nodded, bringing her other hand on top of Caddy's.

"It's okay if you're bad at it," she continued with a small smile. "Apparently I'm really bad at reading you too."

White laughed a little, averting her eyes. "Can we try to figure it out?"

"'Course."

She nodded gratefully.

"You okay?"

"Yes." White swiped her free hand across her face. "I don't know why I'm crying so much today. I guess everything just caught up with me."

"Well, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Got to protect your reputation, after all."

She laughed. "Thanks."

"You are very welcome," Caddy said grandly.

"And for coming to talk to me and…and everything. Thanks for being patient with me, Caddy."

Her eyes went wide and her grip got almost impossibly tight on White's fingers, her whole face nearly glowing with happiness. "You're welcome," she said again, a big smile spreading across her lips. "You're welcome, you're welcome, you're welcome!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around White.

"You only need to say it once," she complained halfheartedly.

"No, I need to say it a _lot._ "

"Oh, alright," White relented, tentatively bringing her arms up to hug Caddy back.

"Say it again?" she asked hopefully.

"Caddy."

"Thank you!" Caddy squeezed her tight and then let go to give her some space. "I don't mind if you want to call me Cadmium when you're teasing though."

"Okay." She smiled. "It'll be Caddy the rest of the time."

"Can I give you a nickname too?"

"No."

"Aww, why not?"

"You can't shorten 'White' into anything anyway."

"Watch me try."

White laughed. "You're ridiculous."

"It cheers you up, doesn't it?" Caddy poked the tip of her nose.

"I suppose it does," she replied, voice softening. "I'm sorry, it's still going to take me some time to get used to things, I think."

"That's okay. Maybe come out and talk to everybody once in a while though."

"That would probably help," White agreed. "It's just that I barely know anyone."

"You know me."

"Sort of. I mean, that's mostly because you're stubborn enough to keep talking to me."

"Well, everybody else wants to talk to you too, if you give them a chance."

"About what?"

"It doesn't matter _about what_ ," Caddy laughed. "Not everything has to be _about_ something. Just go say hi."

"Oh. Alright, I suppose I can try that."

"When you're ready," she added more seriously. "There's no rush."

"Well, I seem to work better on a time crunch, so I'm going to pretend there is. Besides, I need _something_ to do and Crimson refuses to give me any kind of job because she's worried I'll go shatter myself."

"She said that?"

"It was implied. I think." White shrugged. "Either way, I'm bored. I'm not used to being bored."

"You _aren't_ going to shatter yourself, are you?"

"Stars no."

"Good."

"I really am grateful that you helped me, Cadmi—Caddy. I just wasn't expecting it."

"Gotcha," she returned with a smile. "Well, it's nothing _exciting_ , but if you want to help me sort through the new junk in the storage rooms for scrap metal, I'd appreciate the company."

"Isn't that Snow's job? Or, um, the not-Crimson red Pearl's?"

"Quinacridone?"

"Yeah. I've only met her one time, so I forget."

"That's okay. Anyway, it's their day to train, so I said I'd help out! I like doing odd jobs."

"Ah." White hesitated. "Sure, I can help with that."

"Awesome." She stood up, offering White a hand. "I won't tell the boss if you don't."

"Deal."

Caddy helped White to her feet and immediately began pulling her towards the door. "Then let's go!"

* * *

Despite the not-really-serious promise, the two of them almost immediately ran into Crimson on their way over.

"Oh no, we've been caught!" Caddy gasped in mock horror, jumping to hide behind White.

"What are you doing?" White asked, glancing over her shoulder.

"Hiding!" She reached around to poke White's cheek. "You're supposed to say that in return for me saving you from the Agate, you'll save me from Crimson."

"Why?"

Crimson chuckled as Caddy rolled her eyes. "Never mind." She came out from behind White. "Anyway, boss, is it okay if White helps me out with my chores today?"

"I don't see any problem with it. Just don't leave base, White."

"She won't!" Caddy smiled. "Okay, see ya later, boss!"

"See you." Crimson looked pleased as Caddy began trying to haul White after her. "Glad to see you out and about," she added to White.

White nodded, not sure what to say, but Caddy pulled her away and spared her the trouble of coming up with an answer.

The other Pearl waved her into the storage room first when they arrived. "Here we go! Some of this is stuff you brought actually, if I remember right."

"It is." White looked around. "Who got the rest?"

"No idea, but I'd guess Violet." Caddy smiled, shrugging. "Anyway, want to start over here?"

"Sure." White followed her over to the right-hand side of the room and began pulling some items from the nearest pile.

"So we usually do one pile for metals to take to Azalea, one pile for tech stuff to give to Chroma in case she wants it, and one pile of everything else that Snow will go through later."

"Makes sense," she said with a nod.

It was easy work, but it was more interesting than White had imagined it. She'd never really taken the time to _look_ at the things she stole before. And Caddy was surprisingly quiet once they settled in, a comfortable kind of quiet.

Still, right now there were things White wanted to talk about.

"Cadmium? I mean, Caddy?"

"Here and here! Don't worry about it," she added when White frowned. "It'll take some getting used to, after all this time."

"It hasn't been that long."

"Been your whole life, hasn't it?" Caddy gave White a friendly poke in the shoulder. "You're practically brand new."

"I am not," White said, unbothered. "And you're not that much older than me yourself."

"Suuuure. So what did you want to ask me?"

"I…" She looked uncertain of herself. "I was wondering if I could ask for your help," she said slowly. "With…people. You're good with people."

"Aww, thank you!"

"I was just stating a fact."

"Doesn't mean it's not a compliment."

"Oh. Well, I want you to help me with things like that. Compliments and…getting along with the other Pearls. I've never had to do it before."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Okay, I can help with that." Caddy leaned in happily, swaying forward and then back again. "I mean, I bet you'll catch on quicker than you think, but I'm happy to help."

"Oh, alright."

"Lesson number one," Caddy said easily, "is saying thank you."

"Okay, what about it?" White asked, expecting a whole speech on the subject.

"Just try saying it."

"Right now?"

"Yeah. When you ask somebody to do something for you and they say yes, then you say thank you. And smile."

White nodded slowly. "Thank you," she said.

"Perfect! You pass!"

"I'm serious, Caddy, I want you to actually—"

"I get it, I get it! Sorry, I'm not taking it lightly, I promise." She gave White a warm smile. "I just don't think _you_ need to take this so seriously, you know? There's not a script for getting along with people."

"It would be simpler if there was."

"Simpler but boring."

"Maybe so," White admitted.

"I'll teach you the basics, okay? Like, I don't know, even saying hello when you come into a room would probably make gems feel like you're easier to talk to."

White's shoulders drooped slightly. "I'm that bad?"

"No, no, you're not!" Caddy immediately went to hug her, then withdrew, not sure whether White would appreciate the contact. "You're not bad. There's just some stuff you skip that the rest of us take for granted, so it's kinda jarring when you don't do it. Hellos, goodbyes, thank yous, that sort of thing. It doesn't even have to be those words. It's just about acknowledging the person you're talking to."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense."

"Is there anybody in particular you wanna talk to?" Caddy asked curiously.

White shook her head.

"Nobody?"

"I mean, I'd be fine just talking to you more."

Caddy blushed a little. "Besides me though."

"Mm…not really. I was just going to try everyone. Who do you think I should talk to?"

"Well, I don't know, whoever you like! Pearl? Do you wanna talk to Pearl? You've got stuff in common with her."

"I do? Like what?"

"Well, actually I just picked her because you shared a Diamond, but I bet there's something else too."

"Not Pearl," White decided. "I want a break from talking about Diamonds."

"Duly noted, I definitely get where you're coming from." Caddy tapped a finger on her lips. "Okay, let's see…you'd probably like hanging out with somebody who's more fast-paced, right? Maybe Silver?"

"I don't think Silver likes me very much."

"Huh? Why wouldn't she?"

"She keeps pestering me to come to training or whatever, and I haven't gone."

"Nah, she'll understand. That's just her way of trying to look out for you. Gotta be able to protect yourself, right?"

"Oh…" White blinked slowly. "I guess I do have to now."

"Well, training's not so bad," Caddy continued, trying to keep the mood light. "And hey, it's a way to get to know Silver and everybody too, so you _should_ go."

"I guess I can try."

"I'll go with you, if you want."

"Don't you have to go back to your Diamond at some point?"

"Bleh. Don't remind me." Caddy kicked her legs back and forth, shifting her hair into a copy of Sky's because it was comforting.

"Where is she?"

"Who?"

White pointed to her ponytail.

"Oh, Sky? The usual. We're trying to stagger our visits more often so we won't both be gone at the same time, y'know? It sucks since it means we don't get to talk to each other as much, but it's safer."

"Oh." White frowned. "That's my fault, isn't it?"

"Huh?"

"That you have to be really careful now."

"I'll take careful over losing a friend any day," Caddy said with a shrug. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay." White kept staring at her.

"What?" she asked, laughing.

"Nothing. I'm thinking."

"Well, don't think too hard, you're not used to it," she teased.

White rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to sorting.

"Really, it's fine," Caddy said more seriously. "Our goal was always for all three of us to be safe, so…it's a step in that direction, you know? It's tough, but it means we're moving forward like we wanted."

"You should leave too."

"We will soon."

"No, right now."

Caddy blinked, startled by the intensity in White's voice.

"You said you want to be safe," she pointed out.

"Well, sure, but it's more complicated than that. I mean, we gotta think about the Pearls that would come after us, you know?"

"After you?"

"Yeah. Trust me, my Diamond isn't on board with the let's-stop-having-Pearls plan yours was trying to push, and neither is Sky's."

"Wait, what? What plan?"

"She was saying stupid overblown stuff about getting rid of Pearls when you first disappeared. Calmed down after a couple days, but still…" Caddy shivered. "Scary."

White nodded slowly, hand jumping up to touch the gem in her forehead. "But she didn't make another one to replace me?"

"Uh-uh. Couldn't be swayed on that."

"Oh." She felt conflicted, her brow furrowing as much as it was able around her gem. "Good," she decided after a few seconds' thought. "I wouldn't want there to be another one after me either, now that you've brought it up."

"Yeah." Caddy smiled reassuringly. "'Sides, one White's enough for me." She bumped White's shoulder lightly with her own, pleased when she caught the hint of a smile on the other Pearl's face.

"What do we do about yours though?" White asked. "Since your Diamonds are less paranoid than mine?"

"Mm, well…Sky's been talking to Crimson about it a little and they have some ideas that might could work." She caught White's curious look. "I'm not being vague on purpose, I just haven't had a chance to hear details so I don't want to tell you the wrong thing. Sky's better at that kinda stuff than me anyway."

"She is?"

"Yep, definitely. I'm more of a 'point me in the right direction and I'll stab 'em for you' type. Or, uh, retrieve information for you. The stabbing's still pretty new to me."

White cracked a small smile. "I guess you all seem really slow and methodical from my perspective."

"Well, I'll slowly and methodically stab someone for you any day," Caddy said happily.

"…Do I say thank you to that?"

"If you want," she laughed.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome!" Caddy beamed. "But hey! You said you didn't want to talk about the Diamonds and we're talking about the Diamonds! Changing the subject!"

"I don't—"

"What's your favorite color?"

"What?"

"Your favorite color. I wanna know."

"Is that a trick question?"

"I would never trick you!" Caddy gasped, pretending to be hurt.

"Yes, you would."

"Okay, I would, but it's not a trick! Though you will gain points if you say yellow…"

"It's not yellow." White's eyes strayed back to the pile in front of her. "It's not like I've really thought about it before anyway."

"That's okay, just tell me what you like right this instant. You can always change your mind later."

"Right now?" She blushed, a light blue appearing on her cheeks. "I like the colors in the window in my room. I don't know which specific one my favorite is though."

"Ooh, yeah, some of the window settings are really pretty! Which one do you have it on? I didn't notice."

"There's more than one?"

"There's ten, I think! Chroma did a really good job with them!"

"Oh, I didn't know she made them."

"Mm-hm." She watched White for a moment. "You wanna go tell her thank you?"

"Should I?"

"Well, you don't have to, but it'd be a good practice run. Chroma's super nice, and she gets really happy when anybody compliments her work, so you can't go wrong."

"Okay. I'll try that then."

"Great!" Caddy jumped up. "I feel like you probably also need a lesson in thinking about things before you agree to them, but we'll save that for another day. Let's go!"

White let Caddy pull her out of the room. "I thought we were working."

"Shush, I'm being spontaneous! Like you!"

"Okay," White laughed. "Aren't I supposed to be learning from you though?"

"We're gonna learn from _each other_ ," Caddy countered, tugging her forward. "There's nothing wrong with a little spontaneity. But for the record, I will totally blame you if we get into trouble because of it."

"That's fine."

"Oh, come on, don't agree to that! I was kidding. 'Sides, Crimson's not gonna care." She gave White a small nudge with her elbow. "We're all just happy to see you."

"Thanks."

Caddy gave her a thumbs up.

"So…I can basically do anything and I won't get in trouble?"

"That's the spirit! What do you want to do? I've got some glitter bombs with Cyan's name on them if you're interested."

"What are glitter bombs?"

Caddy grinned. "I'll show you as soon as you're done with your thank you. You can even experience them firsthand, if you want."

White gave her a suspicious look.

"C'mon, live dangerously."

"I think I'm done with that."

"Yeah, you are," she said happily. "It'll be a celebration. Fun, harmless, glittery danger."

"Works for me."


	42. Chapter 42

If there was one thing to be said about this brand new rebellion, Pearl thought, it was that they were wholeheartedly persistent.

It had been clear from the start that no one there was fighting at a level that would be good enough to win a true battle. They might, as Caddy apparently had, win a one-on-one fight if they needed to, if only through sheer willpower. And while Pearl was by no means advocating for them to engage Homeworld physically, there was bound to be some kind of confrontation that required it in the future. It might only be a scuffle between a handful of gems, but they needed to be ready. Not to mention it would boost everyone's confidence.

"I still feel like we might be rushing this," Pearl mused as she helped Silver prepare for training. "Summoning isn't easy."

" _Maybe, but it's better to start too soon than too late, right? And this way they can start training with their ideal weapon sooner_ ," Silver said, picking up one of the training swords and swinging it unevenly. " _Like I know I'm for sure not going to be using one of these regularly. I want to get good enough to help the others, but it's not for me._ "

"That doesn't mean it isn't useful," Pearl argued. "It would be best if everyone has a well-rounded skill set. If you specialize too much, you're going to run into trouble."

" _Oh, no, I get that._ " She placed the tip of the sword on the ground, leaning on the hilt. " _That's why I said we should have, you know, basic training for everybody to make sure they can defend themselves and handle different weapons. Then we can switch to more personalized regimens after._ "

"I'm with you there, I'm just concerned some gems might end up focusing too much on summoning since we're starting so early."

" _Hey, we're not totally new to this, Renegade_ ," Silver projected with a good-natured smile. " _We didn't just start training yesterday._ "

"I know you and Crimson have been doing this for a while—"

" _And Chroma_ ," she interjected with a small frown.

"And Chroma," Pearl amended. "But the rest of you haven't."

" _We've actually been working pretty hard the past couple months_ ," Silver protested. " _We might not know exactly what to do, but we've still learned a lot more than we used to know._ "

She hesitated, slightly taken aback by Silver's determination to make her acknowledge the rebellion's efforts. And she _should_ be acknowledging them more, she realized. "You're right," Pearl said, dipping her head slightly in apology. "You've learned a lot. I'm just trying to be sure we don't get ahead of ourselves."

" _We'll be fine; we'll just keep the summoning practices a little shorter so nobody gets overwhelmed._ " Silver glanced over to the weapons closet, one hand coming to rest on her hip. " _But we've already got Caddy summoning, so we ought to at least give everyone advice in case they're able to do it too. It won't be for everyone, but it will be for_ someone _, so it's important._ "

Pearl nodded. "That sounds reasonable to me."

Silver relaxed, her eyes softening as she smiled. " _Good. And thanks for asking everyone to come help out with this._ "

"It's no trouble. Though I do warn you," she added lightly, "we weren't much help to Steven when he was first learning to summon."

She laughed silently, shaking her head. " _Well, we'll just have to make it work._ "

"Right," Pearl laughed.

" _Blue and Yellow are coming too, right?_ " Silver checked. " _They learned summoning more recently, so I bet they'll be good to have around!_ "

"Yes, they'll be here."

" _Cool!_ "

Before they knew it, Pearls began to trickle into the room, most in small groups and a few on their own. Caddy and White were two of the first to arrive, Caddy chattering away happily and saying a quick hello to Pearl and Silver before dragging White over to the weapons closet to take a look. Viri came in a little bit later, talking with Quinacridone and a few of the other Pearls that often joined her. Crimson wasn't too far behind them, walking with Cyan, who was accompanied by a nervous Tangerine.

A few minutes later, Chroma came in with Yellow, still intensely discussing possible upgrades to the comms room just as they had been last time Pearl saw them. Blue was close behind, smiling a little as she listened in. Even the projector Pearls peeked in the door, and Pearl nearly called out to them to come in before they hurried inside of their own volition and headed nervously towards another gem.

"Um, excuse me," one began uncertainly, approaching Quin, who had gone off to one side to start stretching.

"Oh, hey." Quin quickly reached a hand up to the top of her head, mussing the short curls that surrounded the gem there. She waited expectantly for the other Pearl to speak.

"We...wanted to ask if we could sit and watch?" She glanced over her shoulder to the other Pearls with her, receiving a silent chorus of nods. "Would that be okay?"

"I mean, I don't see why not, but why are you asking me?" Quin asked.

"O-Oh! Should we not? It seemed polite to ask, but I guess maybe it's the sort of thing we don't need permission for? It's all a little confusing, honestly. I'm sorry."

"What? No, that's..." She trailed off, realization dawning on her. "Ohh, you think I'm Crimson."

"You aren't?" the Pearl asked, startled.

"Uh-uh. That's Crimson." Quin pointed across the room. "The fancy red one."

"Ah." Her face colored. "I didn't realize. Everyone just said the red Pearl was in charge, so..."

"Well, I'll let you be my right hand gem if you help me rise to power," she joked.

"I-Is that how it works here?"

"No," Quin laughed, waving her hands apologetically. "No, I don't actually want to be in charge. Hey, Crimson!" She raised her voice to get the other Pearl's attention.

"Yeah?" Crimson asked, turning away from her conversation with Cyan.

"These guys wanted to talk to you!"

"Coming!" She said something to Cyan briefly and then hurried over. "What can I do for you?"

"Um, hello." The Pearl who'd taken the lead in speaking to Quin redirected her attention to Crimson immediately. "We were wondering if it would be alright for us watch? We know it's too early for us to be thinking about summoning, but we'd like to see."

"Yeah, absolutely, you can sit in on training any time you like. And I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself sooner. I'm Crimson."

"You mean Quinacridone," Quin said with a quick grin.

"What?"

"They thought I was you, so you must be me."

"I suppose we are practically the same color," Crimson laughed. "Sorry," she apologized to the new recruits again. "I'm usually better about saying hello to everyone when they arrive, but I've been busy with things outside of base. I'm Crimson, this is Quinacridone, and you're...?"

"Still undecided."

"Nothing wrong with that. Well, it's great to have you here." She gestured to the far side of the room. "If you sit over there, you'll usually have a pretty good view without having to worry about anything accidentally flying your way."

"We'll do that then. Thank you." She dipped into a small bow towards Crimson and then towards Quin, smiling. "And for your help."

"No problem." Quin looked a little uncomfortable. "Nice to meet you."

"Ready to get started?" Crimson asked her once the others had gone to take their place along the wall.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Do you know if we're missing anyone who's meant to be here?" She looked around the room, taking count of everyone who was there.

Quin shrugged. "I don't know. You could ask Viri; she usually knows who's where."

"Good idea. Viri!" she called. "Are we missing anyone?"

The taller Pearl looked around, then smiled and shook her head. "This is everybody who said they were coming!"

"Thanks." Crimson headed over to the Crystal Gems. "We're ready to go whenever you are," she said politely.

"We're ready now too," Pearl said, pleased. She clapped her hands to get the rest of the room's attention. "Alright, everyone, let's begin! If you're participating, please come to the middle of the room. If you aren't, please sit over to the left."

Everyone quickly moved to where they were supposed to be, grouping up close in the center while those who weren't joining in—the new recruits, Mercury, Tin, Violet, and Tangerine—were more spread out on the sidelines.

"Thank you," Pearl said as they gave her their full attention. "Now, I'd like to preface this by saying you shouldn't expect to summon during this practice. The goal here is only to get an idea of how summoning works. I'd be very surprised if any of you were able to do it immediately."

"I bet I can do it!" Caddy volunteered eagerly. "Do I get a prize if I can surprise you?"

"You've already summoned," White pointed out from beside her.

"So?"

"You can have a Pearl Point," Pearl told her, dismissing the question.

"Ooh, what's that?"

"I'll explain it later. May we focus, please?"

"Alright," Caddy sighed. She managed to stay silent for approximately three seconds before she started whispering to White.

Pearl cleared her throat pointedly, continuing. "The six of us—Garnet, Amethyst, Blue, Yellow, Steven, and myself—will each demonstrate our own method of summoning to begin. Every gem will have a unique approach, so you should try whichever appeals to you the most. Steven, would you like to start us off?"

"Sure!"

"Oh, good," Amethyst said, "you aren't gonna bore 'em all to death with the petal thing right away."

Pearl made an indignant noise, twisting to look at her. "For your information, I was not planning to do what you have deemed the 'petal thing' at all!"

"Only because you don't have petals," Garnet said with a smirk.

"I... Well, yes," she admitted, cheeks coloring.

"It's okay, Pearl," Steven said. "There's always one thing you forget to put in your suitcase! Or, you know, your gem. Anyway, I could cut some petals out of paper if you want."

"Why, thank you, Steven," she replied, trying to ignore her friends' amusement. "That would be a lovely substitute."

"Okay, I'll do it right after my part then." He smiled, then took a step forward. "Hey, everyone. So, uh, this is my weapon!" He popped his shield out of his gem and held it up so they could see, receiving a healthy chorus of oohs and aahs.

"Question!" Caddy thrust her hand into the air.

Steven giggled, then put on the best teacher-ly voice he could manage. "Yes, Caddy?"

"Can we see a demonstration? Of everyone's weapons?"

"Sure!" he decided. "I mean, mine's a shield, so I'd kind of need something to be coming at me, but...I can also do stuff like this." He flung his shield out, sending it ricocheting from one wall to another, caught easily by Garnet as it came rushing back their direction.

Everyone immediately began applauding.

"Oh, gosh," Steven laughed. "Thanks." He beamed as Garnet passed him the shield back. "Anyway, that kind of thing. The first time I summoned, I was eating a..." He trailed off, noticing their intent stares. "Actually, never mind, that story's not gonna make sense to you and I don't really recommend trying it anyway! I think the most important thing is just to be confident and trust you'll be able to summon when you need to protect the people you care about."

Caddy and the rest of the group nodded seriously, and Pearl felt immensely proud of Steven for conveying the sentiment so well. "Did you want to go next?" she asked Blue and Yellow.

"If you think we can follow that," Blue laughed quietly.

"I'm sure you'll do wonderfully."

* * *

White thought it seemed kind of redundant to have six gems explain the same thing, but she soon realized it was because none of them had _anything_ in common. Steven's explanation was practically a motivational speech, Blue and Yellow's was an entertaining mish-mash that just advocated a lot of experimenting, Garnet's was cool-sounding but indecipherable, Amethyst's was short and sweet, and Pearl's was so wordy White felt her eyes glaze over.

Caddy, beside her, was clearly very excited about every single thing and had immediately taken some of the paper "petals" to toss up in the air above herself and White. Most of it got stuck in her borrowed Snow hairstyle, and the grin on her face said there was at least one piece in White's hair as well. She figured she might as well leave it there; it wasn't going to get in the way of summoning.

However, no one had really given them very direct directions, so White wasn't exactly sure where to start. She'd liked Amethyst's to-the-point "just feel it" kind of suggestion, but…feel what? White was still pretty new to acknowledging her own feelings anyway; she'd spent her whole life trying to ignore them.

But Caddy gave her an encouraging pat on the back and settled comfortably on the floor to work on her own summoning, so White just joined her and copied what she was doing, save that her hand was placed at her forehead instead of her chest.

After a few long moments of glancing back and forth at each other wondering if this was supposed to do something, Caddy just started giggling. "You look so serious, White!"

"So did you," she retorted. "And you're the one who's supposed to know how to do this."

"I've only done it once!"

"So?"

"So it's harder to do if somebody I care about isn't in mortal danger!" She paused. "And please don't take that as your cue to do something irresponsible."

"I wasn't going to. But if it helps, then I can go unbubble that Agate…"

"No thank you! Just making sure," she teased, poking White in the cheek. "I've gotta figure out how this works on my own."

"After you talked about teamwork the whole way here?"

"You know what I mean," Caddy laughed. "Also, good job!" She held up both hands for high fives and White smacked them solidly.

"Thanks. On what?"

"I don't know, the conversation, I guess? You're loosening up, it's nice."

White smiled a little.

"Um, excuse me?" A new voice surprised her, coming from one of the new recruits, who had moved closer to where they were practicing. "A-Are you White?"

White turned to her, startled. "Yeah."

She smiled nervously. "I wanted to thank you for saving me and the others. It was a very brave thing to do, and I never expected another Pearl to help me like that. Especially not one of your station."

White glanced to Caddy uncertainly, searching for something to say in response. "Uh, well...Crimson assigned me to the mission, so you should thank her?"

"O-Oh. Yes, okay."

Caddy tugged at White's arm, leaning in to whisper something.

"And you're welcome," she added quickly. "I'm—I'm glad you're all safe."

The Pearl's eyes brightened and she nodded happily. "Thank you. I'm glad you're safe too."

White nodded. "Thanks."

She just smiled back, seeming to be waiting for White to continue the conversation.

"Okay, well..." she said awkwardly. "I should get back to practicing."

"Oh, right!"

White glanced at Caddy again, who nodded encouragingly. "Maybe we can train together sometime?" she tried before the other Pearl could leave.

She was absolutely astonished. "Really?"

"Yeah. We're supposed to come to practice every day and Caddy's not here a lot of the time, so I'll need some other people to partner up with, right?"

"It...It would be an honor," she stammered, bowing deeply. "Thank you. I'll do my best."

"You're welcome." Her social stamina exhausted, White nodded to her in return and then turned away to get back to practicing.

"Good job!" Caddy praised her quietly, offering two thumbs up.

"I'm not sure I did that right."

"Sure you did. You left her smiling, and that's the important thing!"

"What's that, your personal philosophy?"

"It could be!"

"Hm." White pushed her hair back from her gem so that it wouldn't be in the way as she tried to summon, though it immediately tried to flop back down. She held it in place with her hand instead, concentrating hard. "It's weird."

"What is?"

"Having them thank me." She raised her eyes as if she could look at her gem. "Also I don't think this is working."

"You'll get it, you'll get it, you've just gotta be more patient." Caddy grinned as she lifted a hand to her own gem, which lit up in response but didn't offer her weapon. "Damn, would've been cool if I did it just then." She shrugged, unfazed, then slung an arm around White. "And it's not weird for them to thank you. They wouldn't have made it out if you hadn't been there and been stupidly reckless about it. I mean, I'm not endorsing the recklessness, but at least it paid off, right? That's a lot of Pearls who are safe because of you."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I hadn't thought about that."

"See?" She poked one of the spikes on the top of White's leotard. "You'll be fine. If you can do that much for other gems without realizing it, you'll be able to do even more now that you're paying attention."

White felt her mouth beginning to curve up into a small smile. She didn't know what to say to that, but it was good to hear.

Beside her, Caddy just smiled brightly, then let go and began poking at her own gem.

"What are you doing?" White asked.

"I thought maybe it'd work like a button. Press it and then bang, there's your weapon."

"I doubt it," she said skeptically.

"You never know! Maybe my pointy stabby things just need a little encouragement."

White looked at her a moment longer, then reached up to her forehead again. "Might as well try it," she agreed nonchalantly.

"That's the spirit!"

"Do they have a name?" White asked, wanting to at least attempt starting—or continuing—a conversation on her own that didn't have a direct purpose.

"Huh?"

"Your weapons."

"Oh! Yep, they do, I just keep forgetting. It's emeici."

"Emeici," she repeated slowly.

"Or that's their Earth name," Caddy said. "I went and borrowed the comms computer, since they got that hooked up to the human...network...thingy? I don't know, Yellow lost me after about ten seconds. But you can look up all sorts of human stuff on it!"

"Huh."

"I was hoping I could summon them today and get a better look at them," she sighed deeply, and White wasn't quite able to tell whether she was being melodramatic or serious. "I thought they were pretty cool."

"They were," White confirmed with a faint smile.

"Yeah?" Caddy beamed. "I really want to get good at using them. I don't know if I can be a great fighter or anything, but I want to see where it goes. I haven't really settled into a role here yet."

"You haven't?" she asked, startled.

"Nope," she said. "You're not the only one figuring out what to do with her life, y'know."

White glanced sideways at her, a little bit glad to see the genuine empathy on Caddy's face.

"I mean, I've been able to think about it longer than you have at least, but it's still not all that long," Caddy laughed.

She nodded.

"And Sky hasn't got it all figured out either," she added. "So we can all have each others' backs."

"Sky too?"

"Yeah, of course Sky too. She'll definitely start spending time with you now."

"Huh." White couldn't recall Sky ever _trying_ to spend time with her before but, well, she probably shouldn't expect everyone to be as persistent as Caddy. Sky had definitely wanted to help her too, she knew that, so White wasn't going to judge her based only on the fact they hadn't had a real conversation yet. The same could be said about most of the gems in the rebellion.

"What exactly are you doing?" Pearl asked with concern as she approached the two of them.

"Oh, hi, Pearl!" Caddy greeted her. "We're just trying something different."

"Ah." There was a brief, awkward pause. "Well, I'm not sure how successful you'll be, but feel free to continue if you think it helps."

"Okay!"

"And White?" Pearl asked.

The similarly pale Pearl straightened up upon being addressed. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say that, should you ever want to talk, you only need to ask."

"Talk about what?"

"White Diamond, or anything else troubling you."

"Alright."

"It's very good to see you here today," Pearl finished sincerely. "If you'd like some additional training, please feel free to ask me. I know you probably feel like you have some catching up to do, and I'd be happy to make the time."

"I don't really feel like that," White said slowly, "but thanks."

"Alright." She took a small step back. "I'll let you continue your practice then."

"Okay."

Once Pearl was far enough away, Caddy tugged at White's arm excitedly. "The Renegade just asked you to train with her personally, that's so cool!"

"I guess, but extra training doesn't really seem like something to be excited about. Regular training is exhausting enough."

"It's tough, yeah, but I'm sure it's just 'cause we're not used to it!"

"Hmm."

"You should at least think about it. I mean, I know it's awkward because of the White Diamond thing, but she seems really awesome. In an ultra-organized kind of way."

Ultra-organized, White knew already, was not her style. And she didn't want to talk about White Diamond; she wanted to talk about anything _but_ White Diamond. But it couldn't hurt to try new things as they came either. "I'll think about it," she agreed slowly.

"Atta gem."

* * *

Blue was happy to be helping out with summoning practice. She knew she was hardly an expert, but she felt confident enough in her recent learning that she could offer advice to the other Pearls. It gave her a chance to get to know everyone a little better too. Somehow, despite all her efforts, she hadn't quite figured out where she fit in here just yet.

Because of that, Blue wasn't sure who to go to first. She decided on Azalea, who was nearest her and who she at least knew a little from their mission together.

"Hi," she offered, smiling as she approached her.

"H-Hi..." The blacksmith nervously adjusted her ponytail so it was a little higher above her gem.

"Would you like someone to practice with?"

"Um..." Her eyes flicked to Viri on the opposite side of the room, who was talking animatedly with Quin. "Sure," she mumbled as her eyes darted back to Blue. "Thank you."

"No problem. Why don't we sit down? That might be more comfortable."

Azalea nodded, tentatively lowering herself to the floor after Blue did the same.

"Is there a particular kind of weapon you like?" Blue asked gently, hoping to calm her nerves a bit by talking about her profession of choice. "Either making or using?"

"I..." There was an unnaturally long pause as Azalea considered the question. "I don't...know."

"That's alright," she said quickly. "There's a lot to choose from, right?"

"I mostly...make swords," she said, her voice so soft Blue could barely catch the words.

"And you do a great job," Blue added with a warm smile. "I use them in training still, even though I have my spear, and they've got a good feel to them."

Azalea's face immediately went a flustered pink and she stammered out an oddly melodic "Thank you." Then she pressed her fingers to her mouth anxiously, leaving them there a good ten seconds before repeating the words in her usual voice.

"You're welcome."

The other Pearl smiled a little, touching the gem at the back of her neck. "Um...it's okay to summon if I don't have anything in mind?"

Blue nodded. "Definitely. I had no idea what I'd get when I first started." She shrugged, smiling. "I just figured it was worth checking, since you work with weapons so regularly."

"Oh, okay. I'll...I'll give it a try then?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah, whenever you're ready." She paused, then added, "I could sit behind you, if you like, to watch your gem and tell you if you get it to light up or anything." It would probably ease Azalea's mind too, not feeling like she had to keep up a face-to-face conversation.

Azalea nodded her agreement, and Blue went to sit behind her, a little off to the side just in case Azalea had anything stored in her gem that might come flying out the same way they had for Blue.

It was peaceful and friendly, despite Azalea's shyness, but Blue felt like she was just making the other Pearl more nervous and that wouldn't help her summon anything.

"You're doing great," Blue told her after a while, rising to her feet. "I'm going to see if anyone else needs help, if that's okay."

"Oh, yeah...sorry to keep you."

"No, you didn't, don't worry." She gave Azalea a casual salute and looked around for someone else who might appreciate some guidance. Yellow had gone to help Silver and Chroma, and Pearl and the other Crystal Gems seemed to be drifting around more sporadically rather than settling with one person.

Cyan maybe? She was on her own too, though she seemed comfortable enough, radiating more confidence than any of the other Pearls as she held her hair away from her gem eye. Her other hand waited patiently in front of her, and her normal eye was squinted a little in concentration.

"Hey," Blue greeted her. "How's it going?"

"Oh!" She looked up quickly at the sound of Blue's voice. "I think it's going well, though I haven't got anything to show for it at the moment."

"Well, sometimes it is more about the feeling of it," she said encouragingly.

"I'm not sure it's that so much," Cyan said slowly. "It's more that I'm trying to recreate it _without_ the feeling."

"I'm sorry?" Blue asked, confused.

"Ah, long story." She looked over to Tangerine briefly, who was sitting a little way away from them, noticeably isolated from the slightly chattier new recruits. A small smile graced Cyan's lips when her partner gave her a nod of encouragement.

"Oh, wait, I think I see what you mean. You've summoned before?"

"Yeah, just once."

"That's amazing!"

Cyan blushed at the enthusiastic praise. "Thanks."

"So you're trying to kind of work it backward, right?" Blue asked. "The first time I summoned, I was pretty emotional, but I'm not going to feel like that every time I need to summon so..."

"Yeah, exactly," she confirmed happily. "Do you have any advice?"

"Hmm, I don't know if there's anything specific..." Blue sat down across from her, thinking. "I guess for me it was more about recognizing that my spear was there, that it really belonged to me, you know? It's hard to take ownership of something as completely yours when you're not used to it. I practiced for ages before I did it the first time, but it didn't work because I wasn't totally recognizing that."

Cyan nodded, listening with rapt attention.

"That's…pretty much all the advice I've got," Blue finished.

"I'll be sure to remember it," she said earnestly. "Thank you!"

"Oh, and would you like to borrow some of my hair clips while you practice?" Blue offered, pointing at the ones she was wearing.

"Your...?" Cyan stared at her blankly.

"You know, for your bangs?" She snapped them out and pressed them into Cyan's hand gently. "They're a big help. My bangs used to be longer too, so Steven gave me some to keep them out of my face. These ones are from Yellow though. Anyway, you should try it."

"Okay," she answered slowly. She held the two clips with something akin to reverence for a moment before realizing what she was doing and hurriedly pushing them into her hair. There was a small click and a wince as she accidentally brushed one against her gem. "Thank you so much," she added. "I'll be sure to keep them safe."

"I'm not sure there's anything to worry about in here," Blue laughed kindly. "But thank you too." She replaced her missing clips with a few others from the set Yellow had given her. "Look alright?" she checked, since she didn't have a mirror.

Cyan nodded.

"Good," she said with a smile. "So…want to get started now?" she asked when the other Pearl made no move to do so.

"Oh, right," she said hastily. She tried to brush her bangs away from her gem eye out of habit and then blushed, realizing they were already held back, and smoothly transitioned to holding her hand just in front of her eye instead. "Here goes."

Cyan didn't make any immediate progress and Blue was just beginning to wonder if she ought to leave the tactician alone to practice when a faint shape began to form in the light from her gem. She held perfectly still, not wanting to interrupt her concentration, but after a moment Cyan shook her head, the light disappearing.

"You almost had it," Blue said encouragingly.

"I did?" She brightened. "It did feel a little different that time."

"Mm-hm."

"I'll keep practicing then. And, um, you're welcome to go help some of the others, I don't want to take up all your time."

"Oh…yeah, thanks." Blue was a little disappointed to be moving along again so soon, but Cyan was right, that was best. It was what the other Crystal Gems were doing. Well, Yellow was still in the same place she'd started but that was just because she got along with Chroma pretty well.

Blue took a deep breath, touched her clips, and smiled as she got up. She'd figure out who it was that she could make friends with later. Right now, she was just meant to be helping.

* * *

Meanwhile, Steven was making the rounds too, trying to give encouragement to anybody who looked like they might need it.

"Hey, Crimson!" He came over to where the red Pearl was practicing on her own. "You don't have a practice buddy?"

"Ah, I guess not? Do I need one?"

"Well, I always think it helps," he said with a smile. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead." Crimson watched as he took a seat in front of her. "Thanks," she added. "My usual training partners are all otherwise occupied." She gestured over to Silver and Chroma, and then to Viri, who had half a dozen Pearls surrounding her. "And Sky's away."

Steven nodded sympathetically.

"So does my practice buddy have any tips for me?" she asked lightly, the corners of her mouth curling upward. "I don't really know what I'm doing here."

"That's okay, you don't have to know!" He shrugged. "Just keep at it, I guess?"

"I can do that."

"Should I be quiet and let you concentrate, or would you rather talk?"

"Oh, you can talk," Crimson said easily. "I'm plenty used to getting things done with other stuff going on around me."

Steven laughed. "Yeah, I guess you're used to multitasking since you're in charge."

She nodded, raising her hand to her gem to try and urge her weapon to emerge, though there was no sign of it yet. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know." He thought for a moment. "How'd you pick your name?"

"There isn't any special meaning behind it. 'Red' just seemed too obvious. Ah, no offense meant," she added, tilting her head towards Blue and Yellow.

Steven giggled, covering his mouth with his hand. "I won't tell."

"Thanks," she said, flashing him a quick grin. "How'd you pick yours?"

"Oh, humans actually don't pick their own names," he said. "You know how I explained I have a dad and stuff?"

Crimson nodded, then twisted her head to get a better view of the gem on her shoulder.

"Well, dads and moms pick names for their kids, so that's how I got mine."

"Really?" she asked curiously. "What happens if they pick a name you don't like? Are you allowed to change it?"

"Yep, definitely. I like mine though!"

"That's good."

"When did you get your name?" Steven asked.

"Oh, um, stars, I'm not in the habit of counting years anymore." She stared off into the distance for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't know, less than a decade. Silver and I picked them together not too long after I got here."

He nodded, intrigued. "So you had this whole place to yourselves?"

"Mm-hm." Crimson focused back on her gem again. "It was nice but I think I like it better these days. It feels more...full."

"Yeah, makes sense," Steven said, smiling. "Where were you before?"

She froze, startled by the question. "Before?"

"Before you got here."

"I..." Crimson pulled her hand away from her gem, tucking it under her leg. "I'd rather not talk about that, if it's alright."

"Oh! Yeah, of course, sorry!" Steven apologized. "I was just curious, I didn't mean to—"

"It's fine," she told him, "I'm not upset with you, that's just not really something we ask around here, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it, I totally get it! You want to focus on the good stuff going on right now."

"Yeah," Crimson agreed, looking relieved. "Exactly. I don't think it'll do the rebellion any good if we keep looking backward. And I guess we ended up with an unspoken rule about that kind of thing."

"Mm-hm."

"I mean, they're free to talk about it if they want to—like Viri does pretty often, and the Diamonds' Pearls do because they're still in service. Or just Caddy and Sky now, I suppose. But for me and some of the other Pearls, the older Pearls, well, I...I do better if I don't."

Steven nodded seriously. "I understand. It's okay."

"Thanks."

"...Can I ask how old you are?"

"Me?" Crimson laughed. "I'm a thousand and some."

"Whoaaa."

"Aren't all the Crystal Gems older?" she asked, amused.

"Oh, yeah, I guess they are," Steven said. "But it still sounds impressive, saying you're a thousand!"

"Thanks, I think? I am kind of on the older end for a Pearl here."

"Is that why you're in charge?"

"No, no! If we picked by age, Millie would be running the place and I don't even want to imagine..." She paused. "Wait, no, it would be Pearl now. We're safe."

Steven giggled.

"Anyway, how about you?"

"I'm just fourteen," he answered easily. "So everybody seems old to me."

"That _is_ pretty new. Oh, but you're older than the Diamonds' Pearls, I suppose."

"That's so weird," he laughed. "It doesn't feel like it."

Crimson smiled, not quite understanding, and went back to practicing quietly for a while. She wasn't able to get her gem to do anything, it seemed like, but she kept at it and didn't let her determination waver.

It was a few minutes later when the two of them took notice of a Pearl that came over to sit a few feet away from them. Steven recognized her from a few brief encounters—she had an orange gem that matched his own placement. He'd tried to make conversation with her once but she'd only looked nervous and found an excuse to leave. Her clothes were kind of fancy but she seemed to give it her all in training despite them being in the way, and her hair was gathered in a big, fluffy ponytail to keep it out of her face.

"Do you mind if I ask her to join us?" Crimson asked, gesturing to the Pearl.

"Not at all!" Steven paused, then lowered his voice. "Sorry, what's her name?"

"She doesn't have one yet," she answered with a smile, then turned to speak to her. "Hey, would you like to practice with me and Steven?"

The orange Pearl jumped, her hand going to the gem on her stomach protectively. "What?"

"Do you want to practice with us?" Crimson repeated patiently.

"With…" She gave Crimson an indecipherable look, then spared Steven a brief glance as well. "I can do it on my own."

"But it might be more fun to do it together," Steven offered.

"Do you want me to?" the Pearl asked, looking directly at Crimson.

"It's not an order, if that's what you're asking."

She nodded uncertainly, looking a little lost when Crimson and Steven both continued to wait for an answer. "I can do it on my own," she repeated finally. "I'll learn how to do it, I promise."

"That's—"

"I can do it."

Crimson was startled by the abrupt interruption, but she just nodded. "Alright."

The other Pearl dipped her head slightly, her ponytail bobbing, and went back to focusing on her own gem.

Steven frowned. "I'm going to go keep her company anyway," he decided. "She seems kind of…not okay."

"No," Crimson said firmly, placing her arm in front of him to block his way. "She's still adjusting, that's all. Not everyone settles in right away."

"But shouldn't we _help_ her settle in?"

Sharp eyes searched Steven's for a moment before she shook her head. "We offered, she said no, and we have to respect that. If we don't, she's not going to see the gems here as any different from her owner."

Steven nodded slowly, looking disappointed. "I get it."

Crimson smiled a little. "It's nice of you to want to help, just take it a little slower, please."

"Right," he said decisively. "I will."

"Thanks." She made to get up. "I think I'll go check on the others—wander the room before I keep practicing. Want to come with?"

"Sure," Steven agreed happily. "Let's go." He gave the orange Pearl a friendly wave as they passed her. "You can do it!"

She raised her hand uncertainly in response. "Thanks."


	43. Chapter 43

Yellow spent all morning working on the warp pad, which was getting closer and closer to being finished. The majority of the work left now involved keeping it from interacting with Homeworld's own warp pad system so that no outsiders would be able to warp themselves straight into the middle of the rebellion. They only needed to be able to warp long-distance to Earth and back; anything else would be too dangerous.

Lavender was away and Pearl had been absent for most of today as well, off in the forge with Azalea and Crimson to discuss the rebellion's weaponry. It didn't affect the progress of their work too badly, since Pearl didn't have enough recent knowledge of Homeworld's warp systems to be useful, but Yellow did find that she missed her company. The rebellion had been keeping all of them busy and that was fine, preferable even, but it lacked some of the comfortable familiarity that she and Blue had developed when they were just with the Crystal Gems.

Yellow had quickly gotten used to Chroma and Lavender though. They were a bit touchy sometimes, or perhaps just a bit too aware of the gap in status between Diamonds' Pearls and themselves, so there were plenty of missteps. But they never got angry about any unintentional insults, and they'd just go quiet until Yellow worked out what she'd done wrong and apologized, and then it was back to discussing the work ahead of them.

Chroma in particular turned out to be fun to work with, and Yellow enjoyed seeing her methods of assembling odd parts into incongruous but functioning wholes. They never made any sense, as she was quick to point out, but somehow they always ended up working in the end.

The Pearl in question had disappeared a few minutes ago after receiving a message from Ory but now she returned, another gem trailing just a couple steps behind her.

"Have you met Tin?" Chroma asked as they walked over.

"Yeah, we know each other!" Tin answered before Yellow had a chance. "We met in training not too long ago."

Yellow nodded. She hadn't noticed before, but now that Tin was standing and moving, she could see that she heavily favored her right leg, courtesy of her cracked gem most likely. "Hello," she offered, not wanting to stare too much.

"Hi!" Tin smiled brightly. "Is it okay if I sit and watch for a little while?"

"Watch?" she repeated.

"Mm-hm. I'm following different gems around so I can figure out what job I want to have. Mercury's already decided she wants to be a tactician, so I want to pick soon too!"

"Oh, okay." Yellow hadn't put much thought into it, but that was a smart way to help Pearls find a job that suited them. Most probably had no idea what they wanted when they first acquired their freedom. "Yeah, you can watch."

"Thanks!" Tin lowered herself carefully to the floor beside Yellow, eyes darting over the warp core in front of her.

"So you don't want to do the same thing as Mercury?" Yellow asked.

"Not really," she laughed. "I mean, we're different gems. Tactical stuff is gonna be fun for her, but for me it's just...well, don't tell her and Cyan, but it's a little boring being cooped up in one room like that."

"I'm not sure this is going to be a fit for you either then," Chroma said, settling on Tin's other side. "We definitely get around base more, but there's still a lot of being cooped up in one room while we fix things."

"Yeah, but it's different," Tin replied. "You're interacting a lot more! Like, if something breaks, everybody's like 'Let's go find Chroma' and it's cool."

A small smile found its way to her lips. "Yeah, it is kinda cool," Chroma murmured. "Oh, but it's not just me," she added quickly. "There's Yellow and Lavender too."

"Of course," she agreed. "You're just who everybody thinks of first, that's all! You've been here the longest of the three of you, right?"

"Yeah." She pushed a few spare parts they weren't using in Tin's direction. "Here. You can play around with these a bit if you want, or just watch."

"I'll try both," Tin said agreeably. "Thanks."

"Sure."

Yellow wasn't sure what to expect from their guest, but Tin was actually pretty quiet, observing keenly from the spot she'd chosen and only interrupting intermittently to ask the two of them questions—ones that were generally only partially relevant to the task at hand.

"What do you like most about this?"

"About building a warp pad?" Yellow asked.

"No," Tin laughed, "your whole job."

"Oh." Yellow paused for a moment. "I don't know, I just like it. It makes sense."

"Okay!" She didn't press for a better answer, just watched intently as Yellow got back to work. "What about you, Chroma?"

She glanced up, smiling. "I just like that I can do something that's useful and fun at the same time."

Tin nodded, then winced at the movement and pressed a hand to her gem. "That's really cool."

"I bet you'll find something like that too," Chroma said.

"I hope so!"

* * *

After a while of watching Yellow and Chroma work, Tin was starting to get bored. They weren't bad company—if anything, they both reminded her a tiny bit of Mercury in different ways—but she couldn't follow their conversations very well once they got technical. Tin distracted herself by examining the pieces Chroma had pushed her direction, leftover bits from things they were grafting onto the warp core.

"Hello," came a new voice, and Tin looked up to see Blue walking over. "Mind if I distract you for a little while?" she asked, going up behind Yellow and placing her hands on her shoulders, leaning forward to see what she was working on without risking jostling her hands too much.

"Sure." Yellow brightened a little, pleased when Blue took a seat beside her a moment later. "Where have you been?"

"Just getting a little extra sleep," Blue answered easily. "How's the warp pad?"

"Getting there."

"And you're helping now too, Tin?" she asked.

"Just watching," she answered cheerfully. "Figuring out what I want my job to be. It's...probably not this, sorry, guys."

"That's alright," Chroma laughed kindly. "There are plenty of other choices; I'm sure one of them will suit you."

"Mm-hm, I've got a whole day lined up!"

"Yeah? Who's next on the list?"

"Video reconnaissance with Tangerine in comms."

"Is that what she calls it?" Chroma chuckled.

"No, that's just what I'm calling it! It sounds nicer than plain old surveillance."

"Well, video reconnaissance will be nice and calm," she said, amused. "Anyone else?"

"Aura and Millie too, since they'll be right there," Tin continued. "And after that, hmm, I think it was Snow?"

"Ah, Snow's out today," Chroma said. "Actually, Millie is too. Silver went with them and Lavender on a rescue mission. Speaking of..." She set the equipment she was working on down carefully. "I'm going to go check in with Aura and see how things are going."

"Oh, okay, see you later then!"

"See you." Chroma offered a small wave to her and the others before heading off in the direction of the communications room.

"I was wondering why she seemed distracted," Yellow muttered.

"I hope it all goes well," Blue said, squeezing Yellow's arm reassuringly. "Do you need me to help with something while Chroma's gone?"

"No, that's alright," she answered with a smirk. "You two entertain yourselves, I can handle this."

"Okay," she laughed. "So, um, is there anything standing out to you so far?" she asked Tin.

"Not really," Tin said, shrugging. "Everybody's been really helpful though!"

"That's good." Blue fidgeted a bit with the translucent material on the bottom of her shirt.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"What's your job?" Tin asked.

"Oh." Blue smiled faintly. "I guess helping with training and stuff mostly."

"That's really cool," she said. "You get to do what you've always dreamed about doing, you know?" She gestured to Blue's gem. "I mean, I'm guessing that's what you dreamed about doing?"

"Yeah, it is," she murmured thoughtfully, touching her gem. "That and meeting Pearl," she added lightly, "but I already got to do that too."

"Yeah," Tin laughed.

"There wasn't anything you wanted to do while you were in service?" Blue asked curiously. "I mean, not that there has to be something..."

"I mostly just wanted to stay with Mercury," she answered honestly. "And join the rebellion. But, well, that's taken care of now, so I guess I met all my goals too." She laughed. "We'll have to figure out some new ones, huh?"

Blue couldn't quite tell if she meant her and Mercury or her and Blue, so she just nodded.

"Although..." Tin mused. "I enjoyed parts of my job as a Pearl. Our owners weren't bad gems."

"Not all of them are," Blue agreed. She'd seen plenty of Pearls over the years and some of their situations were far better than others, even though they shared the awful commonality of being owned.

"Yeah. It's kind of weird saying that here though. I haven't heard lots of details, but most of the Pearls here seem to really hate their owners."

"Well..." Blue said thoughtfully. "If you've had an outright bad owner, it's probably easier to make the decision to run."

"Good point." Tin looked around. "It's pretty amazing there's even this many."

"It is," she said, smiling. "It's more than I expected. I mean, not just numbers either. I thought the rebellion would be only Pearls who'd seen my projections, but it's not. I'd never even spoken to the majority of them before I came here."

"They spread the word on their own?"

"They must have."

Tin looked awed by that detail, pressing a hand carefully to the gem on the side of her head. "I wish I could have helped tell other Pearls too."

"I wish I could have told more," Blue said wistfully.

"You told hundreds, if not thousands," Yellow cut in, raising her eyebrows. "I think you've done more than your share."

"Still, I loved getting to do it." She shrugged. "And I'm glad Crimson and the others can take up that role and keep it going. It's just a little sad, not being able to be a part of it anymore."

Tin hummed sympathetically. "But we'll have new stories to tell each other now," she added. "That'll be a good thing."

"Definitely."

"That's actually what I used to do," Tin volunteered easily. "Tell stories. That was the fun part of being Topaz's, although Mercury always had to make sure I was careful about not getting too creative and stuff."

"Maybe that can be something you do here then," Blue pointed out. "I mean, I don't know if that's a _job_ , but it's at least something you enjoy."

"Yeah!" She brightened. "That's a great idea, thanks."

"Oh, I'm sure you would have come up with it on your own."

"Maybe, maybe not!" Tin pointed to her cracked gem, smiling. "I'm not sure which bits of me have gone missing yet."

Blue laughed uneasily.

"Sorry, was that too dark? Mercury keeps telling me I shouldn't joke about it."

"No, it's alright, I was just surprised."

"Mm." Tin frowned, running her finger over the crack. "I figure it's there, so I might as well accept it, right? I don't want to make things all awkward by pretending that it's not."

"I think it's just difficult to get used to seeing someone's gem cracked without it being..."

"Fixable?"

"Yeah."

Tin shrugged. "It's difficult for me too, but I don't want to be sad about it all the time. We're both alive, we're both here, and that's what's most important to me. The happy stuff definitely outweighs the sad."

"That seems like a good way to look at it," Blue agreed. She looked around. "Where is Mercury, by the way? This is the first time I've seen you apart."

"Oh, she's with Cyan!" Tin said cheerfully. "She's going to be a strategist too, so she's learning how all that works."

Blue nodded uncertainly.

"Speaking of Mercury, can I ask you something?"

"Um, sure," she agreed, not sure what to expect.

"Do you think it's okay to ask Garnet for fusion advice?"

"For...?" Blue took a moment to process the question, trying to make sense of it. "Yeah, I'm sure she'd be happy to answer questions."

"Great! We've never met any other fusions besides Topaz and we can't really have a conversation about that kind of thing with her."

"Well, Garnet's practically a fusion expert," Blue laughed. "What kind of things did you want advice on?"

"Hmm, mostly just if it's safe to fuse when my gem's like this. I know it hurt Mercury when I _got_ cracked, but I'm not sure if it'll hurt her if I'm just cracked to begin with."

"You've fused?" Yellow asked, looking up.

"Once!" Tin answered enthusiastically. "It was amazing!"

"Yeah?" Blue smiled. "So we're not the only ones then," she said to Yellow.

"You've fused too?" Tin asked.

Yellow nodded. "We haven't since we've been here," she said, "since we thought it'd be pretty new to everyone and we didn't want to scare them."

"But fusion's not scary at all," Tin said earnestly. "If I knew it was okay to, I'd be doing it all the time. Well, if Mercury wanted to, of course."

Blue laughed. "Yeah, you're right, but I thought it might get overwhelming having so many new things starting to happen at once."

"I think that's what makes it exciting," Tin said, "but that's fair. I guess I'm only used to the idea since our owners fused pretty frequently." She rocked forward a little. "Could you tell me about your fusion too? Give us some advice?"

"Sure, if we can."

"Thanks!" She got up carefully, pausing a moment to make sure she kept her balance. "I'm going to run and get Mercury, I'll be right back!"

"Okay!"

Tin hurried back in the direction of the strategy room, not sure if she'd find Mercury there or somewhere else on base. Located on the far end of one of the two long hallways that led through the private quarters, it was about twice the size of the room Tin and Mercury—and everyone else—stayed in. Currently there wasn't much in it, just a large table with papers spread all over it as Cyan tried to get all her information organized. The arrangement seemed to have gotten slightly messier since Tin had last seen it earlier that day, and she smiled when she caught sight of Mercury's distinctive, scribbly handwriting on some of the documents.

Still, the two tacticians were nowhere to be seen, so Tin cut through a smaller hallway to go by their room and see if she could find Mercury there. Or Cyan, since it had turned out she and Tangerine lived right next door.

Sure enough, she found them both in the hallway, standing just outside Mercury and Tin's door, Mercury scowling as Cyan seemed to be finishing up some kind of an explanation.

"Good timing!" Tin called, hurrying over to them. "Are you all done?"

"Just about," Cyan said. "I wanted to let Mercury know where she can find me. This room is mine and Tangerine's." She pointed to the door immediately to the right of Mercury and Tin's, then to the one on the left. "And this one is mine too. You can usually find me in one of them if I'm not in the strategy room or the common room."

Mercury narrowed her eyes. "Why do you have two rooms?"

"Sometimes I get stressed."

"Sometimes?" she scoffed. "I'm _always_ stressed."

"I can tell," Cyan said dryly. "Though I thought you were also the one who made a big fuss about not wanting you and Tin to be separated."

"I was."

"So you don't actually _want_ another room."

"Of course not. It's the principle of the thing."

Cyan rolled her eye. "Anyway, that's where I'll be if you need me. Any more questions?"

Mercury considered it for a moment. "No, that's it."

"Okay. I'll see you later so we can get started on those plans I mentioned before."

"Sure." She looked to Tin. "Did you need me for something? Is everything okay?"

"Yes to both!" Tin began leading her down the hallway by one hand, to take her over to the common room.

"You're welcome!" Cyan called after them.

Mercury didn't reply, just lifted her free hand in a lazy sort of wave.

"Thanks!" Tin answered for her, exchanging a grin with Cyan. "She had a great time!"

" _Tin!_ "

"What? You did, didn't you?"

"Well…"

Tin laughed, tugging her along faster.

"Anyway, where are we going?" Mercury asked. "And slow down, you shouldn't be overexerting yourself until we're sure your gem can handle it."

"It's okay, my gem's feeling pretty good today!" Tin told her, though she slowed her pace a little anyway. "And we're going to talk to Blue and Yellow."

"Blue and Yellow? What for?"

"To talk about fusion. Did you know they've fused too?"

Mercury shook her head.

"They have!" She pulled at Mercury's arm. "Maybe they'll be able to help us."

"You think?"

"Well, we won't know until we ask," Tin said seriously. "Can we ask? I really want to know if it's safe for us to fuse again."

Mercury nodded without hesitation. "I want to know too," she murmured. "What about the other fusion?" she asked.

"Oh, Garnet? Yeah, they said it's okay to ask her too. But talking to other Pearls about it just seems..."

"Safer."

"Yeah. Even if there's nothing to be afraid of here."

"Mm." Mercury squeezed Tin's hand a little. "Alright, Blue and Yellow first, and then if we need to, we'll talk to Garnet too."

"Sounds good."

The two of them headed back into the common room, where the other two Pearls were waiting.

"We're back!" Tin announced. "Are you at a good stopping point or should we wait?"

"This is fine, thanks, Mercury," Yellow answered, setting her work aside.

"I'm Tin," she pointed out, smiling.

"Oh," she said, embarrassed as she finally looked up properly. "Right, sorry. You look a lot more alike in my peripheral vision, that's all."

"It's alright!"

"Hi, Mercury," Yellow added.

"Hi," Mercury said quietly as they sat down.

"Hey," Blue greeted her as well. "How was your, um, strategy introduction?"

"Good."

"That's good. I bet Cyan will appreciate having somebody else to help out."

She shrugged awkwardly.

"She definitely will," Tin said, leaning against Mercury's shoulder briefly. "You seem like you'll get along well."

"She spent the whole time trying to make me laugh at her jokes," Mercury complained.

"Did she?"

"She had a ten percent success rate, but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction."

Tin giggled. "You're cute."

Mercury blushed slightly. "Aren't we here to talk about fusion?"

"Yep!" She turned her attention back to Blue and Yellow. "Could you tell us about yours, please?"

"About ours?" Blue asked. "Sure, we'd be happy to, but what exactly do you want to know?"

"Anything you can think of," Tin said earnestly.

"But if you know anything about fusing while one or both gems are injured, that'd be the most helpful," Mercury added quietly.

The other two exchanged a look.

"If you mean gem damage," Yellow said slowly, "we don't have any experience with that."

"And with bodily damage, my gem works a little differently from most anyway," Blue said. "If Green—our fusion—gets her form injured, I take on the majority of that when we unfuse."

"Why?"

"It's...not going to be something that applies to you, I'm positive," she answered, reluctant to share that detail.

"Okay," Mercury said warily. "What about if you're injured when you go into the fusion?"

Blue shook her head. "We've never tried that, sorry."

Mercury and Tin exchanged a brief look.

"If you had to guess?" Tin asked in a small voice.

"I don't know," Yellow said. "I mean, if you're able to hold your form together on your own, I'd think the fusion would be able to as well." She shrugged. "Beyond that, there's no way of telling."

"You'd really probably be better off talking to—oh, Garnet, there you are!" Blue waved her over. "I was just about to say we should find you. Future vision?"

"Maybe," Garnet answered with a little smile, joining the four of them. "Hello, Tin, Mercury."

"Hi," Tin offered, looking a little more nervous now. Mercury moved closer to her.

"You can ask anything you like," she continued. "I'd be happy to help."

"We were mostly wondering how it would work with my gem," she said. "Have you ever...?"

"Hmm..." Garnet tilted her visor down slightly to get a better look at Tin's gem. "I certainly got into some trouble during the rebellion on Earth," she said, "but nothing that severe."

"Yeah," Tin sighed. "I mean, I'm glad you weren't hurt, that's a good thing. I just was hoping somebody would be able to tell us how to deal with it."

"I can tell you what I've experienced," Garnet said. "In the past, if one or both of their gems took damage, Ruby and Sapphire would usually unfuse. My memories of that are a little…blurry, but I do know it was a conscious choice and not a forced one. I could have remained together, but they felt it would be better not to—either to make it easier to hide from enemies until Rose could find them, or so that one could protect the other without risking further damage to the injured gem like they might if I stayed together."

Mercury nodded slowly. "That makes sense. So the damage itself never kept you from staying fused?"

"No. Though of course, it was never anything permanent like Tin's."

"So you can probably fuse!" Blue said, smiling. "That's what we were guessing too," she told Garnet.

"I'm not worried about the likelihood of it so much as what it might do to Tin's gem," Mercury argued.

"Or yours," Tin pointed out. "I don't want it to end up hurting you like it did when I got broken."

"A good point," Garnet agreed.

Mercury looked at her for a long moment, then slowly asked "The future vision Blue mentioned is...precognition? From your Sapphire?"

"That's right." Garnet held up her right hand.

"Oh!" Tin leaned forward a little. "Could you, um, just check the future for us then? If that's okay?"

"I can, but it's not always good to know what's coming," she warned them. "That in itself can change the outcome or the path to that outcome."

"We only want to know if it's safe for the two of us to fuse," Mercury said determinedly. "That's not going to do us any harm unless you're wrong."

Tin elbowed her in the side.

"What? It's true."

"It is," Garnet laughed, not offended. "Alright, I can take a look for you. Wait a moment."

Tin smiled and settled back, ready to wait. "Thanks, Garnet."

To their surprise, it was only a few seconds before Garnet spoke again. "I don't see any futures where your fusing negatively affects either of you."

"Really?"

She nodded. "There are...variations, but I can't discern any lasting harm in any of those scenarios. I'd just recommend you play it safe and don't rush things."

"We won't," Mercury said seriously, though she was fighting to keep the smile off her face. "Thank you."

"No problem." Garnet smiled. "Anything else I can help with?"

"That's all we needed."

"No, come on, Mercury, we should ask more questions!" Tin encouraged her. "It'll be fun hearing about an all-the-time fusion. That's what our Topazes wanted to be," she added to Garnet. "But Homeworld doesn't allow that kind of thing. What's it like? How did you decide to stay like this?"

"That's a pretty long story."

"I like long stories!"

"So do I," Mercury said begrudgingly, giving Tin a fond smile. "If you don't mind sharing it."

"Not at all."

* * *

It wasn't long before a small crowd had gathered around Garnet, respectfully taking up places on the floor in silence as she recounted how Ruby and Sapphire first met, and how they first fused.

"That's amazing," Tin whispered as Garnet finished. "It's such a beautiful story..."

Mercury nodded, a small smile on her lips when she saw how enthralled Tin was.

"Really?" another Pearl asked skeptically, making all heads turn toward her. Tin recognized her as Citrine, who she only knew by her reputation as a troublemaker—and not the kind of troublemaker the rebellion appreciated. "They were just being stupid and impulsive, weren't they? They didn't even know each other."

"So?" Tin asked, a little irritated to have her immersion in the story broken. "It's okay to be impulsive when you're in love."

"It could have just as easily ended with them shattered," Citrine said, shrugging. "I don't see what you find so great about that."

"It's great because it _didn't_ end that way," Tin pointed out. "They survived and they got to stay fused and fight for what they believed in. I think it's really inspiring."

"Well, do what you like, but I hope you don't expect the rest of us to behave the same way. Though, I mean, not all of us have identical copies of ourselves to fall in love with the instant we're made."

Tin's eyes went wide, then grew dark. "Mercury is _not_ a copy of me, and I'm not a copy of her either."

"Well, not anymore," Citrine muttered.

"What's the matter with you?" Mercury snapped, positioning herself in front of Tin protectively. "If you think we're all so stupid, then leave. Nobody's making you listen."

Citrine flinched at the ferocity in her tone, but she didn't say anything.

"We don't even know you. Stop running your mouth about things you don't understand."

The orange Pearl glared at her for a few seconds, then abruptly stood up and left the common room.

"Are you alright?" Mercury asked Tin quietly when she was gone.

"I'm fine," she reassured her. "Like you said, she's just running her mouth."

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry," Chroma offered. "I've been _trying_ to tell her to stop acting like that, but she doesn't listen to me and she doesn't really listen to Crimson either, so..."

"No, it's okay, you're not responsible for her," Tin said easily, already slipping back into the natural smile that she always wore.

"She'll come around," Garnet added, voice calm and steady.

"I hope so," Chroma murmured.

"You shouldn't dwell on it," she said. "Let me tell you one more story before we go to training."

Tin brightened. "Really?"

"It's a shorter one, but I think you'll enjoy it."

"Definitely!" she said eagerly.

Mercury still looked a little on edge from the confrontation, but she nodded too, letting Tin lean against her comfortably as Garnet began speaking again. "Your gem?" she checked softly. "That's alright too?"

"Shh," Tin whispered back. "It's alright, I promise."

"Okay."


	44. Chapter 44

Citrine seemed to have a habit of always being around when you didn't want her there, and then never being around when you were looking for her. Crimson had checked the common room first, then Citrine's room, finding her in neither place. She'd just have to wander the base until she bumped into her then, she decided, because she had no idea where or with whom the other Pearl might spend her time.

Crimson doubted she would find Citrine anywhere else in the living quarters—there weren't any truly unoccupied rooms anymore and she was fairly certain Citrine wasn't close friends with anyone yet, despite being there just as long as some of the others. Instead, she made her way through the entrance area towards the infirmary, poking her head in briefly but finding it empty as expected. Then she circled through the communications room, said hello to Aura and Millie who rather suspiciously scrambled to hide whatever they'd been looking at on the computer, and went around to the meeting rooms that didn't get used very much. She was just leaving when she ran into Viri, who was headed toward the front of the building.

"Hi, Crimson!" the taller Pearl greeted her.

"Hey, Viri." Crimson caught sight of the orange gem she held, cupped carefully in both hands. "Oh stars, is that Citrine? What happened?"

"Oh, no, no, this isn't Citrine, this is the other orange one. Fluffy ponytail, last one not to choose a name besides the projector Pearls?"

"Ah." The one Steven had wanted to help in summoning practice the other day. She frowned, leaning in for a better look at the gem. "She's not cracked, is she?"

"No, just got poofed in training." Viri shrugged. "She got a little too ambitious."

"She does seem the type. Are you going to sit with her?"

"Yeah, unless you need me somewhere else." Viri had made it a habit to stay with any Pearls that had poofed or arrived to them poofed, spending her free time watching over their gems until they returned.

"Not right now," Crimson said. "Actually, I might come join you later, if you don't mind."

"Not at all!" Viri smiled. "It's good to have company, I'm sure she'll appreciate it!"

Crimson wasn't entirely convinced you could tell there was anyone around when you were inside your gem, but she nodded all the same. "I'll see you later then."

"See you!"

She watched Viri continue her careful walk to the infirmary, then swiveled in place to head for the training room instead. Finding Citrine wasn't urgent, and maybe if she moved on to the next things on her to do list, she'd run into her at some point anyway.

The most pressing matter at hand was talking to Pearl about the plans for the rebellion. Crimson had been working with Cyan—and more recently, Mercury—on sketching out some broader strategies. After the discussion they'd had this morning, it seemed like the right time to present their thoughts to the Crystal Gems.

Crimson wondered briefly if their own rebellion should have a name like that, and then dismissed it. She knew "the rebellion" was vague, but she liked calling it that. It sounded down to earth and it got the point across quickly when she was trying to pass the word along to Pearls who were still in service.

As she entered the training room, there was one group of Pearls finishing up practice—presumably where Viri had come from—and then the usual four Pearls working on the warp pad, a low-power force field thrown up between them so that there was no chance of anyone or anything accidentally damaging the work-in-progress warp pad.

"Pearl, are you busy?" Crimson asked, circling around the force field and approaching them. "I had some ideas I wanted to run by you."

"Oh, certainly," Pearl answered, standing up and dusting off her legs, which had gathered small particles of crystalline blue. "I was just educating myself on some of the new technology; they can handle this without me."

"Want us to wait for you?" Chroma asked.

"No, no, go ahead." She smiled, turning to Crimson. "This is about the plans for the rebellion, right?"

"Yeah. Or, well, it's _a_ plan, and I wanted to run it by you, run it by everyone else, and if it passes muster, then it'll be the rebellion's plan."

"That sounds very reasonable." Pearl started towards the exit. "Shall we go to the strategy room to talk?"

"How about my office instead?" Crimson suggested. "Mercury and Cyan are still…adjusting to working together."

"In that case, your office it is," she agreed. "Would you like me to get Garnet and Amethyst too?"

"Sure, that'd be great."

"Alright, I'll meet you there in just a moment then."

Pearl hurried out the opposite door instead, leaving Crimson to walk back down the hall to her office alone. She realized, belatedly, that there were only three chairs in there and turned around, going to borrow one from the next room over. She shoved it inside her office unceremoniously, having to push her desk farther back so she was able to squeeze in all the chairs and leave adequate room to walk in between them.

Crimson gathered up a few papers that had fallen in the process and set them back on top of the messy stack on one corner of her desk. It was only then that she noticed the small note that had been left for her right beside it, written in Sky's neat, swooping handwriting.

 _Sorry I missed you! I'll come by again as soon as I can. Caddy said summoning practice was really cool, I wish I could have been there too. My Diamond's keeping me close still but I think it's more to spite White Diamond than it is anything else. But I'm sure Aura's already given you my report, so I won't waste any more paper talking about Diamonds. Just wanted to say hi and tell you to keep procrastinating cleaning up in here so we can do that together! (I can't tell if that sounds rebellious or just silly, but I really do enjoy it) Anyway, I hope everything is going well with training and the warp pad and everything. I know it's a lot to keep track of, so make sure you take care of yourself please. See you soon._

Crimson smiled down at the note, reading it once more before putting it away in her gem. No sooner had she done so than the Crystal Gems appeared in the doorway.

"Hi, come in," she greeted them. "Sorry it's a bit of a tight squeeze."

"No problem." Amethyst plopped down comfortably on the middle chair, Pearl and Garnet taking seats on either side of her. "What's up?"

"I was hoping to get your advice on rebellion strategy and whatnot."

"Ooh, cool. I've never gotten to help plan a rebellion before!"

"Then I guess we're on the same page," Crimson laughed.

"Pearl and Garnet know what they're doin' though."

She nodded. "Actually, before we get into everything else, I wanted to apologize, Garnet. I heard Citrine said some things she shouldn't have."

"There's no need for you to apologize," Garnet reassured her.

"No, really. You're our guest and she shouldn't be...criticizing your existence as a fusion."

"I hope we're a little more than guests by now," she answered with a small smile.

Crimson returned it, running a nervous hand over the gem in her shoulder. "Our friend then," she amended. "Sorry, I'm still not quite used to being on equal ground with other gems."

"That's understandable."

"Anyway, guest or friend, she shouldn't have said it. I'll talk to her again later, see if I can get through to her this time."

"It's not on you if Citrine's being a pain though," Amethyst pointed out.

"Very true," Pearl agreed. "Anyway, why don't you tell us about the plan you have so far?"

"Right." Crimson cleared her throat. "This is more of a general sort of plan, not specifics, so..."

She nodded, smiling. "You don't need too many specifics this early on."

"Things change that you won't be able to plan for," Garnet said calmly. "And if you plan everything, you'll feel completely derailed when that happens."

"Yeah, exactly," Crimson said appreciatively. "So I came up with some general stages that I thought might be best. We'll focus on recruitment first, Pearls and other gem types if we can later. Once we're stronger in number, we can start trying to disrupt the way Homeworld is running as much as possible without physically starting fights. I assume that process would take quite a while to do effectively, and the results would affect what comes next, but...if or when we get to it, stage three would be going on a more blatant offensive."

"Postponing true confrontations as long as possible," Pearl said approvingly. "That's good."

"You think?"

"I think it's an excellent starting point."

"And the specifics are something you should get lots of input on," Garnet added. "There are going to be some things other gems will think of that we won't, or vice versa."

"Yeah," Crimson agreed, relieved to hear they were on the right track.

"So right now, we just wanna recruit as many gems as we can, huh?" Amethyst asked.

She nodded. "I mean, I'm not sure I like calling it recruitment when so much of it is getting Pearls to safety, but you know. We need to grow our numbers, but we also want to make sure to help as many gems as we can."

"Both are important," Pearl agreed. "And you're going to continue bringing everyone here?"

"Yes, if that's what they choose. I've been talking to a few other Pearls about expanding the building so we can have more rooms for newer rebels. We're running out of space right now if we want to keep the storage rooms open."

"Won't somebody notice if you're doing construction work?" Amethyst asked curiously.

"Oh, not expanding outward," Crimson said, pointing to the floor. "Expanding down. Silver's owner was actually planning similar renovations before she shattered, so we're pretty sure it's possible."

"So you'd focus on fortifying the base and its supplies," Garnet said, "to give the rebellion a sturdy foundation."

"Right."

"I think that's good," Pearl said, "but in regards to having an increasing number of Pearls going missing as this happens..."

"I know, I'm not sure how to handle that," Crimson admitted. "It's not as if we can have everyone leave their owners at once—stars, some Pearls may not _want_ to leave their owners for something so dangerous—but it's going to keep getting more dangerous for the ones that stay once gems really take notice."

"It may be unavoidable," Pearl sighed.

"There is one possibility that might work," Garnet said.

"What's that?"

"A show of force. If we can impress upon the Diamonds that you're a threat that needs to be recognized, then they're more likely to want to deal with you themselves."

"And that's a good thing?" Crimson asked apprehensively. "We definitely can't stand up to them right now..."

"It's a good thing because it means they won't want the embarrassment of letting the rest of Homeworld know a bunch of Pearls are causing trouble."

"Oh," Crimson breathed. "So other gems wouldn't have any real provocation to get rid of or harm their own Pearls."

Garnet nodded. "It would at least buy you time in that regard. As for the Diamonds themselves, that might not be so easy. I don't know how they'd react these days."

Crimson frowned. "Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond are somewhat predictable, it's White Diamond that would worry me the most. She might cause large scale harm if we provoke her." She paused, then added, "And I'd for sure want Sky and Caddy pulled out before we make any kind of move to antagonize the Diamonds; they wouldn't be safe."

"Their disappearance might actually work in our favor," Pearl mused. "Our success would depend primarily on the Diamonds' reactions, and that would certainly get their attention. It's just a matter of what happens after that."

"I can talk to White and get her input. She'd have the best insight."

"Sounds good."

"But it's not like they know where you are," Amethyst pointed out. "Before they can do anything to the rebellion, they have to find it. So all we've gotta do is make sure they never find you."

"Well, there are other concerns, still including how it would affect Pearls who aren't here," Pearl said hesitantly, "but yes, that would be the main point of order. If we make sure to set up protections around the base, and take precautions when coming and going…"

"And we'll have the warp pad," Crimson said. "If all else fails, we can leave the building deserted, make them think we've moved somewhere else."

"What about the warp pad itself?"

"Is there a way to disguise it?"

Pearl considered it. "Yes, that's probably doable. But in event this place is discovered, we'd need to destroy the warp pad altogether. It wouldn't be safe to return."

"Ah, yeah, that's true. It just seems like a shame after all the work you've put into it."

"Well, if it comes to that, it will certainly have served its purpose." Pearl shrugged. "Regardless, you're right, we do have one solid backup plan for sure. And hopefully we'll have time to improve on that, gather enough supplies to store both here and on Earth in case of an emergency."

"Yeah. Okay, so I'll work with the Diamonds' Pearls and Cyan to figure out some options," Crimson said determinedly. "Oh, and Mercury, of course. It'll be good to see how the two of them do working together on something like this."

Garnet nodded. "Feel free to come to us anytime too."

"Thanks, I will. We're still really new to this, so it's good to have you here."

Pearl smiled. "We'll keep doing our best to help."

"And hey," Amethyst said, "you don't have to keep thinking of us like visitors. Even if we're not gonna stay here full-time, we want to be part of the rebellion. We're not just going to ditch you as soon as we get back to Earth."

"Oh! We'd be honored," Crimson said. "Not that I thought you were going to ditch us, but I wasn't sure how involved you wanted to be after this."

"We'd like to stay involved," Garnet assured her. "We have our responsibilities on Earth, but if you need us, we'll make sure to be here."

"Definitely," Pearl agreed. "We want to stand with you."

"Thank you."

* * *

Viri had been sitting with the poofed Pearl for a good couple hours before Crimson poked her head in.

"Hey," she greeted her. "Sorry I took so long, it's been a busy day."

"That's alright!" Viri answered easily, patting the seat beside her to encourage Crimson to join her. "You didn't miss anything."

Crimson laughed. "No, I guess not."

"Did it go well?"

"Yeah, pretty good actually."

"That's great!"

Crimson nodded. "How's your day been?"

"Kinda so-so," Viri admitted, though she kept a genuine smile on her face. "I mean, it's never really a _good_ day when a friend-to-be gets poofed."

"True," she agreed, smiling a little at the friend-to-be label. "And...you and Azalea have been having some problems too, right?" she asked hesitantly. "I don't mean to pry, I just heard some gems talking about it."

"I don't mind," she said. "We're not having problems, we just broke up."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Viri shook her head. "It's okay. We enjoyed being a couple for a while, but it wasn't working out, you know?"

"Not really," Crimson said honestly. "But I'm glad it didn't end badly."

"Thanks!" She smiled wistfully. "I'm sure things will work out for both of us. She's a really sweet gem."

"Mm-hm." Crimson wasn't really sure what else she could add to the conversation, so she redirected her attention to the gem that had been placed carefully atop a cushion on a nearby table. "So do you...know her well?"

"Oh!" She shook her head. "No. I've tried to talk to her, but she always seemed really uncomfortable so I didn't want to pressure her."

"Yeah," Crimson agreed quietly. "She hasn't really adjusted to being here. I'm a little worried about her."

Viri nodded, stretching a little. "Where's she from?"

Crimson gave her a pointed look that said _It's not our place._

She was right. Viri smiled faintly, changing her question. "She got rescued from shattering?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think she talks to anyone else? I hardly ever see her."

"She's been staying in her room most of the time, from what I can tell," Crimson replied. "Sil says she never misses a day of training, but after that she must go straight back to her quarters." She grimaced. "I get the feeling she took the training as an order instead of a suggestion."

"A lot of us do, I think. Occupational hazard." Viri smiled. "It wears off though."

"Usually," she agreed. "It just seems like there should be some way to make her feel more at home here."

"Well, I'm hoping this is a start."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Crimson paused. "Do you like doing this alone? Or would it be okay if I came by to sit with her sometimes?"

"That would be great," Viri said, leaning forward earnestly. "If you have the time."

"I'm busy, but probably not as busy as everyone thinks," she laughed. "I have time."

"Then I think she'd appreciate the company. And me too."

Crimson smiled and scooted back to lean against the cushions, feet a few inches off the ground since the seat had been made to accommodate bigger gems and not Pearls.

Viri smiled back, and it was easy to fall into comfortable conversation about the more lighthearted goings-on around base, staying with the nameless Pearl for as long as they could before they had to get back to their usual routines.

* * *

The Pearl they had been waiting for came back during one of Crimson's semi-daily visits, dropping to the floor gracelessly and stumbling straight into Viri's hurriedly outstretched arms.

"Whoa, careful there," she said with a faint smile, setting the smaller Pearl upright.

"Welcome back," Crimson added. "How are you feeling?"

She looked between them with wide, startled eyes. "I-I'm sorry I dissipated!"

"What? No, no, no," Crimson said hastily. "Don't worry about that, it happens to everyone."

"You're…not mad at me?"

"No, of course not. Accidents happen."

"Then why are you here?" She said it so plainly it took both of them by surprise.

"What do you mean?" Viri asked cautiously.

"I thought you were here to reprimand me for neglecting my duties." She shrugged uncomfortably. "Why else?"

"Oh stars," Crimson murmured. "No, that's not what this is."

"We just wanted to make sure you were alright," Viri said earnestly.

"But I…" She looked utterly lost. "I haven't been useful to you all this time…"

"You don't have to be," Viri said gently.

Somehow this seemed to upset her even more. "But I want to be," she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "I want to be useful to someone."

"But you're free now, you don't have to—"

"Viri." Crimson's hand fell lightly on her back, making her pause. She gestured for the nameless Pearl to sit down, which she did, back rigid and dress crumpling up around her legs. "I understand the feeling," Crimson said softly, fingers curling into the edge of her shorts. "You start thinking you're a failure when you can't serve, when you can't fulfill the one purpose Pearls are given. It's hard."

The other Pearl didn't respond, just ducked her head slightly like she wanted to hide.

"I don't know what your old life was like," she continued, "and I don't know what led to her giving you up for shattering, but I promise you things are not like that here. We didn't rescue you because we just needed another pair of hands. We did it because everyone deserves a chance at freedom, and we'd be remiss not to save you when it was within our power."

The Pearl sniffled, lip wobbly as she turned her head away. "She didn't," she whispered.

"Didn't what?"

"She didn't give me up. She went missing for a long time, and I was stupid and went outside to see if there was any news and Yellow Diamond said I might as well be shattered and my Quartz could get a new Pearl if she returned."

"I'm sorry," Crimson murmured.

"It's okay," she said, painful laughter cracking her voice. "It's not like she was going to miss me anyway. I n-never made her happy at all, no matter how hard I tried."

Viri wanted to say or do something to help, but she was no good with this sort of thing. She didn't understand it, couldn't process how it would feel when she herself had never had to do anything other than exist in order to please her owner, to be wanted.

But Crimson, at least, knew what to do as she sat there taking in the wilted Pearl beside them. "Is that why you've been staying in your room all the time?" she asked gently. "You were afraid to disappoint us?"

She nodded weakly. "It feels the same," she whispered.

"The same as what?"

"I get to be part of this great thing and then…" She gulped. "I don't know. When I was first made and they told me who I was for, I was so p-proud, you know?" Tears began to drip down her face. "I was a gift for a war hero. It seemed like such an honor."

Viri, unable to hold herself back any longer, wrapped an arm loosely around the Pearl's shoulders, startling her. For a moment, it seemed like she might bolt out of the room, but then she just slumped forward wearily, one fist curling near her gem.

"But she didn't want me," she continued dully. "She wasn't cruel to me, and I know I should be grateful for that but… I-I don't know, I think it would have been easier if she hated me. But she didn't. I wasn't anything to her, just a burden." She pressed a hand to her mouth, trying to stifle her sobs. "A-And I was so relieved when I woke up here the first time, when you saved me, you have no idea. But I don't have anything special to contribute and sooner or later…"

"No," Crimson said firmly.

"Wh-What?"

"No. There is no 'sooner or later.' If you're here, you're one of us. If you decide you want to go somewhere else, you're one of us. You don't have to do anything to earn or maintain that. As long as you don't break our trust, and as long as you're willing to keep an open mind about all these new things we're figuring out, you're good. That's all we're ever going to ask of you."

"Yeah," Viri agreed with a small smile. "And I know we don't know each other very well yet, but I'm pretty sure you're not going to have any trouble with that. So you're not disappointing anybody."

The Pearl trembled under her touch, looking up at Viri with an unreadable expression. "I…I'm not?"

She shook her head.

"I can stay?"

"As long as you want to," Crimson said quietly, opening her hand and extending it slightly, smiling when the other Pearl's fingers fell into it cautiously.

"I want to," she said, her voice shaky but determined. "I want to be here and I want to help."

"Then it's an honor to have you with us." Crimson lifted her free hand to her gem in a salute.

"Welcome to the rebellion," Viri said, doing the same.

The Pearl returned the salute, the beginnings of a smile on her teary face. "Thank you."

* * *

Viri had expected it to take the Pearl a little while to start coming out of her room on a regular basis, but that wasn't the case at all.

Sure, she was still a little reclusive and she didn't linger around the common room or chat with anybody for long after training, but she kept showing up intermittently throughout Viri's day to check on her. It was odd, since Viri and Crimson had meant to be the ones doing the checking on, but the other Pearl never gave them a chance. Instead, they were the ones on the receiving end of small favors here and there and an unfairly adorable smile.

A couple days into this routine, the Pearl seemed to discover that food was something that existed and presented Viri and Crimson with an intricately laid out pattern of fruit, all three of them sharing it and offering some to any other Pearls passing by as well.

"Have you thought about a name yet?" Viri asked as the Pearl picked out the last slice of apricot from the dish.

"A little, but nothing's really stood out yet." She blushed. "It's kind of hard to pick."

"Well, don't feel like you have to rush," Crimson said. "Or even stick with the first name you choose. Sometimes you have to test it out for a while first and see how it feels."

"There are Pearls who've had more than one?"

"Definitely."

"Okay." She smiled a little. "Thanks. It…seems a little easier, knowing that."

"No problem." Crimson poked her fork into a strawberry. "This is delicious, by the way. Thank you."

"Oh! You're welcome." She glowed with delight. "I can bring you some more tomorrow, if you like. There were some leftovers that didn't fit."

"That sounds great."

Tomorrow turned into two tomorrows, and then three, and then four, until eventually Viri and Crimson had to politely suggest a break from all the fruit. The Pearl laughed a little and apologized, and she started bringing a smaller cup of fruit for herself that she ate while they talked. Crimson still went to check with Pearl that it was alright to be eating it all, just to be sure, but Pearl waved away her worries with a quick "We brought more than Steven could eat; no point in letting it go to waste."

So, somehow, this became the Pearl's little ritual, to the point that Viri and Crimson rarely saw her without fruit in hand, and it was always getting shared with the nearest Pearl who wanted some.

"Whatcha got today?" Viri asked her after one of the regular training sessions.

"Berries. You want some?"

"Thanks." She picked a blueberry off the top and popped it into her mouth, wishing she could see what the other Pearl liked about this stuff so much.

"I think I'm going to take some over to Crimson. Do you want to come?"

"No, sorry, I told Silver and Azalea I'd help out them test out some new weapons today. Maybe we can all meet up later?"

"Okay, good luck." She smiled, already making her way to the door. "See you then."

"See you, Fruit Cup."

The other Pearl stopped for a second, surprised, then grinned, giggling as she waved goodbye and disappeared down the hall.


End file.
